The Magic in the Cards
by StarLion
Summary: Roxas is lost, suffering bad luck and bad weather while trying to get home. Along the way, a stranger shows him how to play a new card game, then vanishes, leaving him with the cards until much later, when strange things start happening to him.
1. A Simple Game of Cards

**A/N: **First, of course, the usual disclaimers. I don't own Kingdom Hearts or the Magic: The Gathering trading card game. I've played the card game though, and that's more than enough for what I have planned for this.  
If you've no idea what Magic is (you're missing out) don't panic too much. I've tried to explain it as Roxas learns about it himself.  
For those who have played it - yes, every card used here really does exist in one set or another.  
Finally, bear with me. While this first chapter may not appear to be much, it lays the foundations for the rest of the story.  
And with that - read and enjoy!

* * *

Roxas sat alone in one corner of the bar, watching the other patrons while he warmed himself by one of the several roaring fires. This was an unfamiliar town in an unfamiliar region. To his knowledge, there was no one here he knew. Instincts told him not to trust anyone, to observe, learn and above all, stay alive.  
Outside, the storm rumbled louder. It was the reason he'd taken shelter here. Thunderstorms had not been friendly to him of late, bringing torrential downpours with them. Tonight at least, he'd sleep warm and dry, if not comfortably.  
Another rumble, louder this time, caused glasses around the bar to rattle, ice in the drinks to chink. Some glasses in precarious places fell to the floor and smashed.  
It didn't seem fair to visit this upon the residents, but being rained on for three days straight because a passing wind stole his tent had left him with a distasteful attitude, and a general lack of anything resembling pity for the folk here.  
The main door was opened a ways before the wind caught it and threw it wide. A robed stranger entered the bar, struggling against the howling wind to close the door again. A few patrons helped him close it.  
The stranger's hood had been blown back in the effort, showing a lean, weather-beaten face dripping with water and framed with soaked black hair. His eyes were shrewd and dark, putting Roxas in mind of a sharp-eyed eagle that was aware of everything it saw.  
This stranger evidently wasn't a regular either, as the patrons regarded him with the same wary looks they had given Roxas. They were kind and kept polite, but were also stand-offish, and didn't intrude themselves.  
There was a brief conversation at the bar. The barman nodded toward Roxas, or at least toward the fire beside him.  
"You're not from here," he rasped as he approached. "Would you mind if I joined you?" Roxas nodded, just as wary of him as the others. "Foul weather," he remarked, parting his robe to warm his hands at the fire. Underneath it was a red shirt, as soaked as the rest of him was. The hilt of a sword peeked into view at his hip. "You don't trust me, do you?"  
"It's nothing personal," Roxas murmured. "I don't trust anyone here."  
"Good idea. Drink? On me, of course."  
"Not for me. I've had my fill of water for the day."  
The stranger chuckled knowingly, mopping the water from his own face.  
"Would you mind awfully getting me a drink then? Only you're dry, and I'm still drying off..." Roxas nodded, and the stranger handed over some coins. "Ale for me. Doesn't matter what kind." He nodded again, getting to his feet and passing the order along to the barman.  
"Here," he told the stranger when he returned, handing it over with the change.  
"Perfect. Nothing like a good glass of ale to warm you up after a storm."  
"I'm not partial to it."  
"Not everyone is. I'm known as Darik." He extended one hand, now dry.  
"Roxas," he answered, shaking proffered hand.  
"Feel up to a game of cards?"  
"I don't play cards."  
"It doesn't take long to learn, and I have some with me. Not a normal card game, but it's simple."  
"Won't your cards be wet?"  
"No," he laughed. "I take care of my cards better than that. I might be soaked clean through, but my possessions are safe." He rummaged about in the robe for a moment, then pulled out six small metal boxes. One of each in blue, green, black and red, and two in white. From one of the white ones, he took out two crystals, each with '20' marked on it. One was blood red with black numbers on it, the other jet black with white numbers on.  
"The game's simple," Darik explained. "You have 20 life, as indicated by the crystal. The first one to reduce their opponent to 0... is toast. Not literally, of course," he added with a grin. "In each of these five boxes, there are 30 cards for that colour. We each take two, leaving the last out of the game entirely."  
"What's the difference between them?"  
"I'm getting to that. There's three main kinds of cards. Land cards provide your energy, but you can only play one per turn. Creatures are like your soldiers. Spells are magic to support your creatures, harm your opponent or heal yourself – or more, depending on the spell. You can play as many of either as you like, provided you have enough land cards to pay for it, of course."  
"Sounds simple enough, but you still haven't explained the colours."  
"Of course. White for the Plains, often associated with healing magic. Blue for the oceans, known for it's reserves of counter-magic. Green of the forests, with it's many creatures capable of regeneration. Red from the mountains, where the powerful creatures often reside. And then the Black Swamps, with their command over death and other dark secrets."  
"And we just pick two of these each?"  
"That's right. Neither of us can have the same colour, or two of the same colour, obviously. I'll give you first choice of the colours."  
He considered it, then took the Blue and Green boxes. Darik claimed Red and Black as his own, stowing the White one away again.  
"Just take the cards from each, and shuffle them together to form the deck, then draw the first seven cards. You can't have more than seven in your hand at the end of the turn, unless a card changes that rule. There's also the Graveyard, which is where used spells and destroyed creatures go, but obviously there's nothing in it right now."  
"What happens if a card contests the rules?"  
"Then the card wins. Just as I mentioned with the number of cards in your hand. The rules say no more than seven at the end of the turn, but there are a number of cards that change this." He paused, frowning and examining his hand. "Oh, I should let you know. If you don't like your starting hand, you can shuffle it back into the deck and draw a new one of one less card. Having at least one land is generally good."  
Roxas examined his own hand, noting no reason to shuffle it in. He had one Island, two Forests, one Grizzly Bears green creature, a Monstrous Growth green Sorcery spell, a Reminisce blue spell and a Merfolk of the Pearl Trident blue creature.  
Darik told him there were three main kinds of spells – Sorcery, Instant and Enchantment. A Sorcery could only be played on his turn, while an Instant could be played on either player's turn. Enchantments were a special kind of Sorcery that stayed in play or attached to a creature.  
In the top corner of each card that wasn't a land were symbols that he guessed matched the cost, and corresponded to the same symbols on the lands. Some had grey circles with a number in them, which Darik explained meant any kind of land could be used to pay for those.  
He also explained the way the turns went. First, one took a card from the deck. Then a land could be played, followed by any creatures and spells to be played. Then came the combat phase, where any creatures that were going to attack were 'tapped', which just meant turned sideways to show it. Creatures played on that turn couldn't attack unless they had the Haste ability on them. Creatures also had a pair of numbers on the bottom right corner which signified their power and toughness – how much damage they could deal out and take.  
He then explained that attackers don't get to decide where the damage goes, but the defender can use their own creatures to block the attacking creatures.  
Finally, after the combat phase was a second chance to play creatures and spells, then play handed over to the other player again.  
Darik went first, not drawing a card from the deck because of this. He put into play a Mountain, which he then tapped to show he was using it's one red mana to pay for a Raging Goblin – a 1 power, one toughness creature that had Haste. Naturally, he attacked with it, making Roxas' life crystal to change from 20 to 19. He was down one life before he'd even had the chance to do anything.  
"Sorry," Darik smiled. "Luck of the draw, and I know these cards well."  
"I'll get you for this," Roxas threatened, drawing another Island. It went straight into play, and was used to pay for his Merfolk creature. It too was a 1 power, 1 toughness creature, but lacked Haste.  
Play continued, each of them playing creature and spell. Roxas was unskilled, having never played before, but picked it up quickly. Darik seemed to have extraordinary luck when it came to what he drew, but as play progressed, his luck was countered out by several Counterspell Instants Roxas played, stopping him from playing several bigger creatures with considerable power.  
In the end Roxas lost, but he had managed to leave Darik with almost no creatures, and only 2 life showing on his crystal. He also found that having played it had left him in a better mood than before.  
He made to hand the cards back, but Darik stopped him.  
"Keep them for now. I expect you'll be after a rematch once you've learned the cards a bit better."  
"Are you sure trust me to keep them safe?"  
"I wouldn't ask you to keep hold of them otherwise, wouldn't I? Besides... I might challenge you for a rematch myself if you take too long."  
"I'll be ready for you."  
"I look forward to it. Do excuse me though... my glass seems to have run dry, and I think I'm going to find a room for the night."  
Roxas watched him leave, then began flicking through the cards that made up his Blue and Green deck, noting some interesting and powerful cards among them.  
Thorn Elemental, an expensive but powerful green creature had an interesting ability. If he understood it correctly, he could have it deal damage to his opponent even if it was being blocked. With seven power and toughness, it could deal out a fair amount of damage, and soak up damage just as easily.  
He also found an Artifact card. Artifacts were like enchantments, except they had no colour. Some were Artifact Creatures, making them two types of cards at once. One such Creature was the Tangle Golem. While not as powerful as Thorn Elemental, it packed a fair punch. It still costed a fair few mana, but it's ability was what made it interesting. For each Forest he had in play, it's cost was one mana less.  
His blue aligned cards held many more interesting cards than the collected green cards he had. The Raven Guild Master had two abilities – First was Morph, which allowed it to be played face-down, preventing the other player from knowing what it was at the cost of it being limited to being a 2 power, 2 toughness creature. It could be turned face-up after a second cost was paid, turning it back into the normal creature again.  
It's other ability forced the opponent to remove the top ten cards of his deck from the game whenever it dealt damage to them.  
Temporal Fissure was a Sorcery which returned one card in play to it's owners hand. This in itself wasn't remarkable, but it's Storm ability meant for every spell played before it that turn, it's returning effect could be used one more time at no extra cost.  
Darik had explained that when you couldn't draw a card from the deck, you automatically lost the game. Reminisce offered him a chance to stave that off, shuffling all the cards in the Graveyard back into the deck.  
This, coupled with another blue spell he'd found made it very powerful. Beacon of Tomorrows, a sorcery that gave him an extra turn after the end of the one he played it on. Between that and Reminisce, he'd never run out of cards or opportunities to wreak havoc with his opponent.  
Oraxid was a creature that had almost won him his game against Darik because of it's simple ability – it had Protection from red – any red spells and creatures had no effect on it.  
Finally, the Graceful Adept, while not very good in combat, was useful in a supporting role. As long as it was in play, he could have as many cards as he wanted in his hand. Of course, this came with the down-side that when it left play, by the end of his turn he'd have to discard cards from his hand until it was back down to seven again.  
He flicked through the remaining cards, then split them back into their separate colours, putting them back into their boxes and then putting those in his pockets with the life crystal.  
Roxas thought about Darik's offer of a rematch, but decided to wait until after he'd found his way back to a more familiar place before he made the challenge. If he could find him again, that was.  
He was completely unaware of the crystal emitting a brief pulse in his pocket, simultaneously binding itself to him, and banishing the bad weather and bad luck that had plagued him on his journey.


	2. The First Magic

Roxas awoke with the distinct impression there was something... different.  
The room he'd rented looked the same.  
He looked the same.  
The view – if it could be called that – was the same.  
But he couldn't shake the feeling all was not the same.  
A clock on the wall showed it was still fairly early. The locals might have been wary of him, but maybe they'd consider cooking him some breakfast.  
The bar was quiet, but at this early hour it was hardly unexpected. The same barman was tending the bar, holding a quiet conversation with two men, presumably locals. Roxas didn't recognise them, but then he didn't recognise anyone around here.  
He glanced up as Roxas joined them, nodded to them and came over.  
"What can I get you, your lordship?" he asked in a considerably more polite, almost a servile, tone than he has last night.  
"Do you happen to do breakfast?"  
"Of course. Anything in particular you want?"  
"I don't suppose you have any waffles?"  
"Waffles? We don't get much call for them, your lordship. I'll see what I can find for you though, just take a seat, and I'll have it with you in a jiffy. I'll just put it on your tab, you can pay it off whenever you want."  
Roxas nodded, somewhat uncertainly, and moved to the table he'd taken the previous night. Now he was certain, something strange was going on here. They hadn't called him 'your lordship' last night.  
Not long after, the barman came bustling out with a plate of waffles, and a glass of water for him.  
"Anything else I can get you?" he asked, smiling with a bob of his head.  
"Not right now... I don't suppose you know what happened to Darik though? The guy I was talking with last night?"  
"He signed himself out a few hours ago, saying he had to head for his home in the next town, Dariksville."  
"Named after him, or is he named after it," Roxas mused.  
"There's two schools of thought about that, your lordship. Some think he's their wizard, and the tower there is his, just like the one here in Roxille is yours."  
Roxas hid his surprise at this. There hadn't been any tower here last night, even the bad weather couldn't have hidden anything like that from him – let alone any tower being owned by him.  
"A wizard, huh? Well now... isn't that interesting..."  
The barman nodded and left him to attack his breakfast.  
Once finished, he sat considering his situation for a few minutes, then left the bar to look for this tower he supposedly owned.  
It was hard to miss. In the centre of town, where he'd seen a central market the night before, was a massive stone tower, reaching up to overlook the town. A spiral stair wrapped itself around the outside, a guard rail on the outside edge to prevent people from falling off.  
Another new feature of the town were smaller towers around the edge of the town. It made the town look like a giant sundial.  
The market was now arranged around the base of his tower, with clear routes to it at two points only. One was to the stair that people apparently would climb to reach him, the other was a doorway into the tower down here. It was not exactly a door, more just a door shaped opening in the wall. It seemed to have some kind of semitransparent barrier set into it with strange designs on it in reds and blacks.  
He watched as someone else tapped on it, tried to walk through it, and found it blocked her entry. They apparently gave up, sighed, and started up the stairs instead.  
Now Roxas approached it, and found that it let him through without resistance.  
On the outside, the woman who'd tried to gain entry this way noticed.  
"Wizard Roxas!" she called after him, but he pretended not to notice, quickly moving out of sight. Maybe they thought him a wizard, but he had no idea if he could do what they thought he could.  
Inside the tower here seemed to be mostly empty but for a few crates scattered around, and a bright light in the center shining down from above.  
He stepped into it warily, then blinked.  
He was now stood at what he assumed was the top of the tower.  
There were no interior walls except that of the outside one, and even that was mostly windows, resembling a lighthouse. There were shelves of books, tables with strange instruments, maps, charts and documents all over – and a lectern, carved to look like a great eagle, with two small metal boxes on. One was blue, and the other green.  
They caught his attention immediately. They were the same ones Darik had given him last night.  
As he approached the lectern, he noted that at the top, just behind the eagle's head, was a small, red gem. Written in a black, ornate hand was '20'. On either wing, there was a small slot, one labelled 'Library' and the other 'Graveyard' in the same ornate hand.  
There was a note under the boxes.  
'Roxas,  
I'm ready whenever you are. This round will be more interesting – I guarantee it.  
Darik.'  
He searched his pockets quickly, and found that, yes, the pockets he'd put the boxes in were empty. These must be those two then.  
Somewhat hesitantly, as if expecting a trap, he opened each and checked the cards. They looked exactly the same as he remembered them.  
He thought for a few minutes, then with a strangely detached feeling, he shuffled the blue and green cards into one deck and placed them into the Library slot.  
The eagle lectern glowed for a few moments, the first seven cards from the deck flying up to his hand, then vanishing again. Somehow, he knew that all he had to do was will them to reappear and they would. He also found he knew many other things, among them the way the books and artefacts in the tower were sorted, and what some would do.  
Something nearby caught his eye. A set of shelves he hadn't noticed before was right beside him, each shelf lined with identical transparent orbs.  
"Wizard Roxas," someone gasped. He turned to find it was the same woman from before again, clearly out of breath. "Didn't you hear me call you downstairs?"  
"No," he lied. "I had other things on my mind." Rather reluctantly he also added, "Can I help you?"  
"You absolutely must do something," she told him, shaking her head violently. "Some awful boys have bullied my son into drinking a foul brew, and now he's writhing in pain. Even the doctor can't find any way to cure it."  
Roxas sighed, closing his eyes for a moment and leaning on the lectern. "Bring him here," he said finally. "You'll be able to bring him through the barrier and use the light in there to get up here quicker." As soon as he said it, he knew exactly how to make them work for others.  
"Can't you just..." she waved one hand.  
"Not from here, and not without examining him first. Just trust me and bring him to me."  
She turned to leave, but he called her back, and pointed to the glowing spot on the floor that would get her down the same way he'd come up.  
Once she'd gone, he started making preparations for his new patient. One table was turning into a makeshift cot. On another table nearby, he opened the volume he now knew was the index of everything in the tower. It led him to several more tomes on various kinds of illness or disease, which were stacked nearby to be called on as needed.  
The index mentioned one artefact that would cure any ill – but at a cost. If everything else failed, at least he'd have something to offer them.  
After some more searching turned up an entire book dedicated to healing elixirs, another table nearby was set up with various instruments, making it resemble a chemistry experiment. He'd never tried any chemistry before, but with the specific instructions in the book it wouldn't be any trouble.  
While he waited, he started examining a book on poisons and similarly harmful drinks. He was reading about one brew that seemed to have the same effects as described, along with several other symptoms, when the woman returned, supporting a young boy with the aid of an older man.  
"On the cot," he told them, nodding to it as he continued to read. He glanced up, noting that it was indeed accurate – the boy's skin had turned ashen, and he was having muscle spasms he clearly couldn't control.  
A hand to his forehead revealed that he'd sweated a great deal – yet he had a dry mouth, a high temperature, and also appeared to be suffering from dehydration.  
The book fortunately mentioned Eudephese, a curative elixir. A few moments search in his index turned up the exact page number in the book he'd found before.  
It was a simple recipe, the ingredients all being stored somewhere in his tower – though why some of them were there, or what some were was a mystery to him. Toenail of an Orgg and Kezzerdrix tooth both from creatures he'd never even heard of, but he apparently stocked them.  
The resulting brew was finished not long after, a foul looking bubbling green liquid. It was diluted to one-half strength with water, as it was being administered to a younger person.  
"Hold him still," he told the two adults. "Or at least try. If he can't drink it himself, I'll have to do it myself."  
They tried, managing to get the writhing boy on his back. Roxas had to pinch the nose to get him to open his mouth, allowing him to pour it in.  
"What will it do?" the woman asked him.  
"Cure him, of course. He'll still be mildly ill for a few more days, but once it takes effect about..." he watched, as the writhing and spasms began to subside, and continued, "now, he'll be out of any immediate danger. If you get the chance, tell the kids that forced him to drink it that I want to see them. Don't tell them they're in trouble or anything."  
"What will you do?"  
"Explain to them that I'd rather they didn't do it anymore," Roxas shrugged.  
"Will they listen?" the man asked.  
"If they want to leave in the same shape they entered it, they will. He'll be unconscious for a bit. You may want to take him home again."  
They looked at him questioningly. He bore their looks for a few moments then turned back to his index to find something that would help them.  
What he found tested his belief somewhat. An ordinary looking carpet with a rather ugly design on it.  
He rolled it out on a clear patch of floor and told it, "Up." It rose up. "You can return it when you have the time," he told them.  
"Thank you, Wizard Roxas," she said, bobbing her head in respect again. "We're in your debt."  
"Nonsense," he waved it aside. "Don't I watch out for all of you?"  
"That you do, and we're all grateful for it."  
They manhandled the boy onto the carpet, then directed it out through the doorway.  
Roxas sighed, shaking his head and clearing up again.  
When he'd finished, he returned to the eagle lectern.  
The red life-crystal still showed 20. As he looked though it seemed to pulse, emitting a small red wave in the air with a sound like a gong rung underwater.  
One more card from the library disappeared into his hand.  
"A game?" he murmured to himself. "And it's my turn..."  
He summoned his hand, wondering how to actually 'play' any of them. Experimentally, he laid a Forest land card on the lectern. Nothing happened, so he picked it up, then flicked it out of his hand.  
The card flew up and out through a window. Roxas followed, looking after it then fetching a telescope to follow it further.  
The Forest card continued out of town and to the north, where it settled on the ground. It glowed, emitted a green pulse, then with an immense roar of leaves, a forest sprang up out of the ground.  
Another pulse behind him, with the same odd gong-like sound got his attention. One of the orbs was no longer transparent. Instead it was filled up with a miniature forest in it.  
"A mana count," he said, realizing what the shelves were for.  
Next he picked out a creature card called Elvish Lookout. Unlike the Forest card, this one settled in front of him, forming into a slender, pointy-eared figure. As it did so, the orb for his newly created Forest dimmed, showing he'd used it.  
"You called, Wizard?" it asked him in a soft, almost songlike voice.  
"Take to the Forest to the north and keep watch. Alert me if anyone from Dariksville attempts to enter or harm it."  
"As you wish. Is there anything else?"  
"Just stay alert, and alive."  
It nodded, stepping into the light on the floor and vanishing.  
Roxas turned back to the collected orbs. Beside the one for his Forest was the orb that marked the Elvish Lookout. It showed the scene around him, showing his passage through the town below. None appeared to be bothered by the appearance of this creature, clearly out of place among the more normal human folk that lived here.  
"I guess I'm done... your turn, Darik."  
The life-crystal pulsed again with another of the gong sounds.


	3. Mystery Memory

Roxas quickly discovered that a full round – one turn by Darik followed by one of Roxas' turns – could only happen once a day. A new day, a new round.  
The populace of the town firmly believed he and this tower had been here longer than they had, and that it was with his reluctant permission they'd been allowed to found and create the town around it. The lesser towers, and by extension the stone walls connecting them, had been erected by some early magic from him to protect them. They were not allowed to build outside the walls, or they'd be under threat.  
Periodically, he'd had to alter them, moving them outwards as needs for more space required. Given that the walls were uniformly straight, rather than curving around, the city's streets reflected this. There were twelve main streets leading from the base of his tower, and the central market around it, to the twelve main gates – each one at the same point of a clock. At every hour, the tower's shadow fell over one of them. In the night, the towers would light up instead, but only inside the town. Outsiders would not be able to see it.  
At exactly the same distance apart, a ring of paths went right around, mirroring the straight walls. The result was a somewhat uniform layout, but at least it was near-impossible to get lost in.  
His town had also become known for it's cosmopolitan attitude – no one of any race or species were turned away without reason. Due to this, it was known that the slices of the city between the towers for the tenth and eleventh hours were inhabited primarily by the Elves. Another slice between the fifth and sixth towers was given over to the Merfolk, who also managed the town's water supplies. Few of them were seen out of water normally, but here in Roxille, they wandered the streets as if it was perfectly natural.  
Roxas, having never seen either of these creatures in the flesh before, had read up on both so he could better understand them, and provide for them.  
Elves were often like the one he'd summoned earlier, slender, dexterous and with many talents. Some were skilled archers, others were perfect scouts. A few practised magic of their own, but not on the same level as him. They seemed naturals when it came to the bow and arrow, whether making them or firing them.  
Elves preferred greens and browns, but were not averse to other bright colours. Those who preferred the musical arts often went in for different colours.  
Merfolk on the other hand were short and seldom thin. They ranged in colour from whites to blues, and rarely had much hair, or wore clothes. Out of respect for the other citizens, they wore enough to satisfy the demands of modesty.  
Their skills were arguably as widely ranged as the Elves, but were of course primarily aimed at aquatic areas. Their weapons were usually vicious spears of some kind, and they were in plain display at areas they protected – which was a great many, as they were highly secretive to outsiders.  
The majority of his populace were still human though, and it was apparently rare for many other kinds of creatures to be seen here.  
There were oddities even among them though, people who seemed extraordinary even for humans.  
With nothing else to do for the day, he'd headed into town and was now watching a warehouse that had gone up in flames.  
Someone had run instantly to the Merfolk, and even now they were quickly and efficiently organizing an effort to extinguish the fire.  
All the while, one man that Roxas judges to be just slightly older than him was darting in and out of the warehouse, rescuing those inside. The fire didn't seem to bother him in the slightest.  
He was hauntingly familiar, with silvery-blue hair down to his shoulders, a white jacket and jeans. There was what appeared to be a bandage on his left wrist.  
When he brought the warehouse's foreman out, he announced, "That's the last of them."  
"Hey," the foreman said, turning back to him. "Your arm!"  
He looked down at his arm, and to Roxas' surprise, in a calm voice said, "Oh. My arm appears to be on fire. This could be a problem."  
Roxas didn't stand watching any longer now, moving in to look. With a few well-remembered words from a book he'd glanced through earlier, he extinguished the flames on the arm and part of the building, then examined the arm. It was clearly burned.  
"You didn't react to the fire," Roxas said to him. "Why not?"  
"I don't seem to feel any pain. You're the wizard here, aren't you?"  
"Yes."  
"Excuse me," a merman interrupted, putting a damp hand on Roxas' shoulder. "Could we trouble you to extinguish the remaining fires, Wizard?"  
"What? Oh, of course." A few more words and the warehouse was no longer ablaze, only charred in places and missing a small patch of roof.  
The merman bowed, turning to a nearby Elf and nodding.  
"By yer leave, Wizard," it said – Roxas had trouble telling whether some were men or women. "I'll round up some of me people and we'll have it back in good nick again, if ye can but provide us with some wood to work with."  
"What's in the warehouse?"  
"Food, yer lordship, and we're in fer some nasty wet weather soon. Be bad for it to leave that roof open in the rain, and I kin hardly do only half a job if I'll be doing the repairs, don't ye know."  
Roxas nodded, and created a stack of planks out of thin air. They clattered to the ground nearby, startling the gathered crowd.  
"Before you go to work, might I ask who you are?"  
"I be Kormel yer lordship, and there be no better woodworker than I in all yer fair town. Now do be excusin me..." he turned to the crowed. "Get movin! Less ye plan to help out, ye can go back to whatever ye were doin now. And someone fetch me boys from the workshop and get'm over here now. We's got work to be doin now."  
"Strange accent," Roxas murmured, completely forgetting the young man beside him with the burnt arm.  
"I've seen some of his kind talk like that," he answered all the same. "Would you mind doing something about my arm?"  
"Oh yes. I'd almost forgotten. I don't think it's something I can treat here though. You'll have to stop by the tower."  
"I don't have anything else to do. I only just arrived."  
"From where?"  
"It's fairly distant from here, don't think you'll have heard of it."  
"Try me."  
"Traverse Town?"  
"I know the place. Come on, uh..."  
"I'm Kiru."  
Roxas had the odd feeling there wasn't something quite right about this, but ignored it.  
"Come on then, Kiru. Lets get you fixed up, and you can tell me what you're doing so far from home."  
"How did you end up having an entire town belonging to you?" Kiru asked him as they headed down toward one of the main streets.  
"It wasn't entirely my idea. It just... became mine."  
"Yeah, but how?"  
"You'll think it too weird to be true."  
"Try me," Kiru told him, mirroring Roxas' own statement earlier.  
"I played a card game with someone named Darik last night... I woke up this morning to find that we're having a rematch, and this time the game is real. The towers and walls here just appeared overnight, the people suddenly think I'm their Wizard, and I'm left trying to figure it out around the rematch."  
"Huh. So what's the deal with that short guy with pointy ears?"  
"An Elf. There's some living here. Merfolk too."  
"They're the slippery blue ones, right?"  
"Don't call them that to their face. They take it as an insult."  
"I'll remember... your people seem to hold a lot of respect for you though."  
"Yeah, well, they believe I let them build this here very reluctantly a while ago. It's the sort of thing I'd have done if it had happened. They probably just don't want me to up and leave them unprotected, so they stay on the good side..." he trailed off, then in a more derisive tone, "The good side of their mighty Wizard Roxas."  
"You don't like it, do you?"  
"I'd have preferred a choice in the matter," he replied, turning onto Four Street, so named because of course it led to the gate and tower for the fourth hour. "And there it is... the tower I've been left with."  
"It looks more like a giant sandcastle."  
"Thanks," Roxas muttered sardonically. "Now I just have to remember not to let it get wet."  
"I think I've got a bit of news that'll break you out of that bad mood of yours."  
"What's that?"  
"I saw someone on my way here. Said his name was Sora, and that he was looking for you."  
"Hah. Sora. I wonder what he wants this time."  
"Isn't he your friend?"  
"Sort of. It's a bit more complicated than that. We're almost like brothers, but even that's not accurate."  
"You're a strange person, Roxas."  
"Tell me about it."  
Kiru paused when Roxas walked right through the barrier.  
"I saw someone else try that earlier... it didn't let them through."  
"It only works if I want it to. Come on."  
Kiru tried, but it barred him entry still.  
"That's odd. Kiru is your name, isn't it?"  
"I think so."  
"You think so?"  
"It's a bit vague. I can't remember clearly."  
Roxas thought for a few moments, then turned back to him and said, "Don't go anywhere. I'll bring you up in a few moments. Try not to get surprised."  
"You're going to do a bit of magic, aren't you?"  
"If I can figure it out," he answered, stepping into the light and out at the top of the tower.  
The index volume led him through various other books, until he finally found the magic he wanted. It turned out to be simpler than he thought.  
Roxas left through the normal door at the top, spotted Kiru at the bottom and muttered the arcane words that would activate the spell.  
With a startled look, he rose off the ground and upwards, picking up speed.  
Roxas lounged in the doorway, waiting for him to arrive, then with a snap of his fingers the spell stopped Kiru right nearby. As soon as he'd stepped onto solid floor again, the spell was cancelled.  
"There, that wasn't so bad, was it?"  
"Some warning would have been nice," Kiri replied accusingly.  
"Give me some credit. I'd never tried that before. It turned out rather well, wouldn't you say?"  
"For you. I think I picked up a fear of heights from it."  
Roxas laughed, leading him into the tower and back to the index.  
"Let's see now... something for burns and something for memory troubles."  
Almost as soon as he'd said it, the index began flicking through pages rapidly on it's own.  
"Did you know it was going to do that?" Kiru asked him, seeing his surprised expression.  
"Of course I did," he answered, quickly hiding the surprise.  
The index stopped. On one page were references to items that would handle burns, on the other memory-related ailments.  
The burn was quickly treated. One one of the shelves of vials, he already had a mix of the potion that would accelerate the natural healing process. Roxas directed Kiru to it and how to apply it then re-examined the lists.  
The page that had previously had the references for burns on now also had more details for the memory ailments.  
"Something to restore memories," he murmured to it. The writing on the pages faded, and was replaced with a smaller selection.  
"Hey, Kiru? Any idea what caused the problems?"  
"I don't know. Feels like there's something stopping me though."  
"So there's something forcing you to forget, or preventing you remember then..."  
The index responded again, narrowing the selection further to just three options.  
One was clearly not what he wanted, being for planting or removing planted memories.  
The second would inflict the very condition Kiru had, and even referenced the third as it's opposite.  
The third was another potion. He scanned through the details, then found out the tome it was in and consulted it in more detail.  
"I can fix it," he told Kiru after a few minutes. "But it's going to take time to brew this up. I'm not entirely sure I have all the ingredients either."  
"How many are there?"  
"Six. One I know I have – Kezzerdrix tooth. We want three of them. The index can tell you where to find them."  
Roxas set up the apparatus he'd need for creating the potion while calling out the ingredients to Kiru. In time, they had three Kezzerdrix teeth, a Goblin's eye, half a jug of ground Mind Maggots, the fungus of a Mindbender Spore and four drops of Merfolk blood.  
The missing ingredient was a leaf from the lone Treefolk Healer that existed in every forest.  
"Well, you have the forest," Kiru pointed out. "All you have to do is find it and ask it for a leaf."  
"Something tells me if I went there myself, I'd be putting the locals in danger."  
"I could go."  
"You could, but we've got your memory to worry about."  
"We do?"  
"See what I mean?"  
Kiru nodded ruefully, remembering again. His memory faded in and out in places.  
"Roxas," he murmured, nodding to the doorway.  
Three young boys had entered through the normal door, and were looking around with the manner of those looking for something to steal.  
"Ah. I've been expecting them," Roxas answered just as quietly, already knowing who they were. "Afternoon boys," he greeted them. "Why are you here?"  
"We had word you were looking for us," the oldest and biggest of them told him.  
"Really? Why would I do that?"  
"You tell us. You're the Wizard."  
"You know what? I do believe you're right." Roxas pointed at the doorway. A barrier like the one barring entry at the base appeared over it.  
"Hey, what?" the other two exclaimed.  
"What're you doing?" one asked him.  
"Let us go!" the other shouted.  
"Now, now boys. Listen to me, and pay attention. You bullied someone into drinking something that wasn't good for him, didn't you?"  
"We never," the bigger one protested.  
"Oh no? Then explain why you're here?"  
"'cause you wanted to see us."  
"And why would I want that?"  
"I dunno."  
"How about because the parents of that someone brought him to me to be cured, and I asked them to make you visit me?"  
"Uh-oh."  
"You're not in trouble – yet," he told them, knowing an opportunity when he saw one. "I won't do anything to you, or do anything about what you did, if you do one small thing for me."  
"What d'ya want?"  
"You know the forest to the north of town, no?"  
"Of course."  
"You three will go to it, find the Treefolk Healer that resides there, and ask him for one of his leaves. Don't try and fool me, or you'll wish you'd never forced him to take that drink. If he asks why, tell him that I require it for a curative potion."  
"What if we don't want to?"  
"Then you'll stay here until I decide you've learned your lesson," Roxas shrugged in a chillingly off-hand tone.


	4. More Mysteries

The boys did not return to the tower the same day Roxas had sent them off. He wasn't worried about them, not since he'd made Kiru useful by setting up a means for him to keep watch on them.  
When he told Roxas they were setting up a kind of camp for the night, he provided shelter, safety and food for them. He might not have had any choice in the matter, but he could at least uphold the reputation he'd been given.  
Then he and Kiru turned in for the night. The light in the centre of the tower appeared to lead to other floors as well, normally hidden and inaccessible. Among them were bedrooms, a kitchen, a chilled storeroom, some gardens and even what seemed to be a small farm. Magic was clearly at work in almost all of these areas in some form.  
Roxas found he couldn't sleep as easily tonight as he had the night before, so taking care not to disturb Kiru he returned to the top of the tower, took a glance outside to confirm the town was safe – which it appeared to be – then mixed up a brew for calm sleep, carefully measuring the dose so he wouldn't oversleep. For just a few hours sleep, he only needed a few drops. The brew he mixed up would have sent someone to sleep for decades, so once he'd siphoned what he needed, it was labelled and put with other pre-made brews and potions. The index apparently updated itself.  
During the night, the gem set into the eagle lectern gave another of it's pulses. Apparently Darik was an early riser, and had taken his turn early.  
This worried him. Unlike the card game, he had no idea what Darik had been up to, and had no way to tell what to expect. In the small light of the morning sun, dimmed by the overcast skies and rainfall, the town appeared exactly the same as normal. A new mountain in the distance was the only sign of anything different.  
The new card Roxas drew was a creature he couldn't use just yet, but knew would be a turning point the moment he played it: Thorn Elemental.  
He added an island to the land, causing an ocean to form south of the town. A small rock in the distance showed the island from the card, and one of the orbs on the shelf also displayed it, fully lit up and waiting to be used.  
Roxas almost played a Grizzly Bears creature, but then realized this may not be the best course of action. The Elf he'd summoned had materialized here in the tower, then run through the town to take it's place. This townsfolk would undoubtedly be alarmed were they to see the bears go through the town, so he'd have to play them somewhere else. The forest seemed like a good idea, but the troublesome boys were there right now. It didn't make sense to put them on the newly formed Island either, as that would isolate them, making them useless. This real version of the game was a lot more tactical than the normal way.  
Darik could wait for now – had to wait, he remembered - and turned his attention to cooking breakfast. Magic made things a lot easier, cleaning up and quietly un-burning some toast. As long as some magic like this didn't use up his available mana, he was more than willing to make use of it.  
Kiru woke up almost as soon as he'd finished cooking, murmuring a sleepy, "Morning," before taking a plate and returning to keeping an eye on the boys. They didn't need it for now, still sleeping.  
Roxas thought for a few minutes after seeing this, then through the index retrieved an unenchanted amulet, and set it to allow him to contact whoever held it, and the reverse. Kiru could make use of it in case he was needed while out.  
Things were quiet for now, so he headed into town, touring some areas he hadn't seen, and others he had.  
The fire-ravaged warehouse from the day before was fully repaired. Kormel and his men had done a good job of repairs. The rain was streaming off the rooftop and into the elaborate carved-stone gutters. Roxas had kept himself dry simply by creating an unseeable barrier that would deflect the rain away from him. It was like an umbrella, but without needing to hold it and far more effective.  
As he walked through the town, he noted distinct differences in the architecture depending on the inhabitants. The elves favoured wooden constructs, and their buildings were always plain and simple. Important buildings were always easy to identify, as they added some very elaborate carvings into the wood.  
Normally the wood should have rotted in the rain, but it seemed in the past created by the game, he'd left a passive enchantment over the town to preserve the wood.  
In the Merfolk areas stone was more prevalent. Their buildings nearly always had one floor though, being short, squat and uniform. They were universally unadorned on the outside.  
Inside was another matter, however. Every building they made was little more than a pool of water, an exit point from a vast interconnected network. The Merfolk were, of course, more at home underwater.  
Another passive enchantment made this network and it's underground and underwater buildings watertight and safe for the rest of the town. There were suspicions in the town about some Merfolk, and claims that their network extended underneath the rest of the town. It was rare that anyone was permitted in, and as they would need to visit Roxas to be able to breath underwater, it was hard to set those suspicions to rest.  
There was, he discovered, a small area near one wall that was inhabited by dwarves. They were short, always bearded, dark skinned and always armed. The axe, it seemed, was not actually as favoured as it was widely believed. Out of respect for the others in the town, their buildings were constructed with their height in mind.  
Their sector was small, and their stores specialised in stone and metalworking. Most of the stone in the town passed through their hands at some point.  
Humans were eminently more practical in their choice of construction material, favouring neither wood nor stone, instead using both depending on practicality. As the humans made up a significant part of his town, in order to keep inter-species tensions down, they made up a buffer between each of the others. This did not always seem to work, as some disliked humans as well, but the town's watch appeared to keep such incidents under control for the most part.  
The watch, though it had branches around the town, had it's headquarters in the human area. Roxas decided to stop by and see what incidents were happening.  
It was still early morning, so the watchman on the desk looked more impressive than he was. He was human, taller than Roxas, but bald and somewhat portly. His breastplate shone, but his face didn't. He looked more like he was dozing off.  
"I'm not disturbing your sleep am I?" Roxas murmured, tapping on his helmet to get his attention.  
"Mh?" he answered sleepily, glancing up. "Oh. No. Not really. The night shift is always boring." He peered at Roxas for a moment, then straightened up, trying to look more alert.  
"You don't have to do that just because I'm around," Roxas laughed.  
"Habit, Wizard," he admitted ruefully. "The officers keep telling us we should look the part whenever someone important shows up."  
"True. But you can tell them I said I don't count unless it's a formal visit, and I hate formal stuff."  
"Thanks. Did you want to report a crime?"  
"Not really, I don't think anyone would be stupid enough to steal from me. I thought I'd see what people are bringing to you."  
"There was a murder reported during the night. An elf that no one seems to know. Even the elven community is baffled."  
"What happened?"  
"Hold on. I've got the report here somewhere..." he shuffled around, then found it out. "Here it is. Male victim, age unknown. The body was found just outside the north gate at the first hour past midnight. No injuries found on the body, but it was noted he had a look of terror on his face."  
"No one dies from terror."  
"That's what's got us baffled. Several elves were called on to look at the body, but none of them were able to tell us anything."  
"I'll have a look at it," Roxas told him in an offhand tone.  
"Are you sure, Wizard?"  
"Just tell me where it is."  
"I can't. Well, that is, I have to escort you. The Captain of the Night Watch insisted on it."  
"Lead the way then."  
He was led to the cells in the basement. Most were unoccupied, and of those that were, they were asleep.  
"You keep bodies in the cells?" he asked the watchman.  
"No," he admitted, "But the watch house we normally leave them at was damaged in the fire yesterday. It's been repaired, but the stuff inside needs to be replaced. Here he is."  
Roxas took the cover off the body and recognised the body instantly.  
"I know him. He's not from here, he was working for me."  
"Can you tell what he died of?"  
He continued to examine the body, but there was no apparent sign. When he made to touch the body, a blue spark jumped from it to him, making him flinch back and mutter a brief curse.  
"Magic," he seethed. "Only one place that could come from."  
"Where?"  
"Another Wizard."  
"The only one other than you would be the Wizard Darik."  
"I know. I think it's time I did something about that."  
"What do you want me to do?"  
"You know who and what killed him. I'll make a response to this myself. Tell whoever's in charge to step up the watch on the gates and walls. I want to be prepared for anything else our friend might have in store for us."  
As he left, he decided maybe it was worth taking a tour of the walls himself. The various watchmen on duty patrolling them nodded to him respectfully, but did not inquire about his business.  
The walls were constructed solidly from white stone. One side was raised to about chest height, and it was punctuated with small embrasures, presumably for archers to fire through safely. The towers were similarly constructed. Inside each was a small armoury, containing a variety of melee and ranged weapons, along with ammunition for each. Roxas paused at the first tower when he saw them, then with the help of a little more magic 'encouraged' them to be a bit more accurate even in the hands of a novice. He couldn't make them 100% accurate; that would have required magic on the same scale as the cards used, but he could at least enhance them slightly.  
After that, he did the same at each tower until they all had the same benefits.  
It was on the way from the last one back along the last stretch of wall to the first that a very brief flash of light blinded him momentarily. He glanced over sharply, looking into the distance.  
"Is something wrong?" a passing watchman asked, noting his squinting into the distance.  
"There was a flash of something over that way."  
"There's nothing there that could do that. Maybe you just though-" he broke off as another flash peeked over them. Roxas averted his eyes quickly this time.  
"Convinced?" he asked the stunned watchman.  
"I am now. That's got to be something metal."  
"An army?"  
"Could be. I'll send word to have the walls reinforced. You shouldn't be up on the walls, Wizard. One stray shot-"  
"I'll be safe," he interrupted. "I'm going to look out there."  
"Be careful, Wizard." Roxas glared at him meaningfully. "Sorry."  
He bought a horse from a sleepy stable hand – or tried to, the stable hand told him to take it with his blessings on realising who he was. His still mostly unwanted position as the town's Guardian and Wizard was useful at times.  
A quick bit of magic once the watch had let him out of the north gate ensured that no one would notice him.  
He didn't have to ride far to see over the hill. A force of short green creatures was hiding behind the other side, most of them armoured. It seemed Darik really was bringing the fight to him.  
The force was considerable in size, and was also fairly close to his Forest.  
"Kiru!" he snapped, willing him to hear it through the amulet.  
"What is it, Roxas?"  
"What are the boys up to?"  
"They just obtained the leaf. I didn't hear what was said, but it looked like they had to do a lot of talking to get it. Why?"  
"There's an army of... I don't know what they are, but they're green, they're ugly, and they're armed. I don't think they're friendly, and they're near my Forest."  
"I'll watch them for you."  
"No. I'm going to go get them myself. I want you to find anyone from the town's watch and tell them what's happening. And you keep out of any fighting Kiru."  
"But Roxas-"  
"My choice. Until you get your memories back, you're my responsibility."  
"Fine," Kiru answered sulkily. "It'll take me a while to get down the stairs outside."  
"That's no problem. I'll take care of the boys from here, you don't have to watch them now."  
Kiru muttered something unkind.  
"I didn't quite catch that," Roxas asked mildly.  
"Never mind. I'm very put out with you about this, Roxas."  
"It's for your own good."


	5. It's Not Easy Being Green

**A/N: **You know, there's one thing I've always wondered about. Do the people who work on the original games ever read the fanfics people publish on here?  
Enjoy.

* * *

The boys emerged from the woods as it approached lunchtime. While he'd waited, Roxas had summoned the Grizzly Bears and ordered them – several times – to take up a position between the town and the... things. He could probably have used magic to find out what exactly they were, but had no idea if they'd be able to detect it or not. He could look it up when back at the tower.  
The trio of boys looked apprehensive when they saw Roxas beside his horse watching them.  
"I trust you got what I wanted?" he asked, not bothering to turn around.  
"He wasn't very happy about it," one answered.  
"Treefolk Healers seldom are. Their leaves are highly prized because of their curative properties."  
"Give it to him," the biggest of the three nudged one of the others. With some hesitation, he approached and handed it over.  
"You don't have to be afraid of me," he told them, amused. "I don't plan to do anything to you. Them, on the other hand..." he gestured toward the army of green creatures.  
"Goblins? That's a lot of them... and they've got bears too."  
"The bears are mine. Or at least they're meant to be. They don't pay attention too well."  
"You can talk to bears?"  
"Can't everyone?" Roxas asked them. "The Goblins are why I'm here. I'm not having you going back to the town by yourselves while they're out there."  
"You've only got one horse," the bigger one pointed out."  
"Yes. Your point?"  
"What about us?"  
"Watch," Roxas smiled. He mounted his horse, nudging her back toward his town. As she started to break into a gallop, the boys noticed that they were completely still – relative to Roxas, that was.  
"Think I could learn to be a Wizard like you?" one of them asked.  
"Maybe. You'd have to put in plenty of study though."  
The idea was quickly dropped after that.  
A startled gate guard watched the children come in with him. Roxas cancelled the spell, and turned to them.  
"Don't go getting in any trouble, and don't leave the town while they're out there," he warned, then returned the horse, and went back to his tower.  
Kiru wasn't there, but a brief check revealed him to be out in the town. The leaf for his cure was added, making the mixture turn the same green as the leaf as it dissolved, and pick up a matching leafy odour. It would be ready soon.  
A bell rang in the town below, followed by another, then another. Shouts came, along with strangely distorted sounding cries.  
The Goblins had made it to the walls and were attacking. The Bears were still hacking their way through their ranks, but most of the Goblins had just streamed around them. A few tried to fight the bears, but were killed quickly.  
The gates of the town clanked shut loudly, and the town watch flooded to the walls with bows in hand. An assortment of elves supplemented them with their own archers.  
From the small dwarven segment, there was a thump, and a large rock was thrown into the crowd of Goblins. It seemed they added a catapult and kept it under covers until it was needed.  
There were a lot of Goblins, but they seemed to lack coordination or tactics. Several times a short, ugly fight broke out in their ranks over conflicting orders, which only added to their losses.  
Some Goblins attempted to break down the heavy gates, but without proper rams had little effect.  
Then their own bows came into effect. Several of the defenders fell quickly to the short storm of arrows, and a few towns folk too close to the walls felt the effect too. The Elves quickly retreated to the relative safety of the towers, leaving the armoured watchmen to the walls.  
Something caught Roxas' eye. On one of the walls, taking shelter behind the battlements, was Kiru. He had a crossbow in hand, reloading it. He glanced once over the walls to get a shot, then rose up, loosed the bolt, and retreated back again for the next one. His shots never seemed to miss, but he wore no armour, had no protection at all.  
"On your own head," Roxas muttered. If Kiru got himself hurt, it was his own fault. Roxas had tried to keep him out of it.  
He kept watch on Kiru as well as the remaining Goblins now. Some of the Goblins had reached the walls with scaling ladders and grappling hooks. Those atop the walls pushed the ladders away, and unhooked the hooks, but found that more difficult as the attackers started focusing arrows on those areas, causing injuries and hasty retreats. With it, the Merfolk and more humans came into play, hiding just out of sight with shields held over their heads. As the attackers got to the walls, they were assaulted with spears into their legs, crippling them before they were killed.  
One Goblin popped up just as Kiru rose to take another shot. He looked it calmly in it's ugly, screaming face, then punched it solidly. The Goblin took the ladder with it back to the ground, where it's chest promptly sprouted a crossbow bolt.  
Then Kiru did something that tested Roxas' belief in him. He picked up the remaining bolts he had left and made his way to one of the towers. Instead of going inside, he scrambled up the side to stand on top, without anything to protect him, and continued to loose bolts at the Goblins. Several arrows short disturbingly close to him. Then he noted something else – he'd taken off the amulet that Roxas had given him.  
He muttered something, making his way back down and out to the walls again. He lost his view of the battle in doing so, but could hear it clearly. The Goblin voices were fewer now, and seemed to be growing fainter.  
When he got to the base of the tower Kiru was perched on, there was a great cheer as a Goblin died with a gurgling sound outside, apparently the last one. Now the defenders turned to their wounded.  
"Kiru!" Roxas snapped, arms crossed. "What do you think you're doing up there?"  
"Winning," he answered, dropping down and taking the first set of stairs down.  
"Didn't I tell you to keep _out_ of it?"  
"I didn't get hurt," he said defensively.  
"Luck. All it would have taken was one lucky shot, and you made yourself a prime target for them."  
"You're angry with me, aren't you?"  
"No," he sighed. "You just gave me a bit of a scare. You could at least have found something to protect you."  
"There wasn't anything left," he shrugged. "Besides, they were bad shots anyway."  
"Not all of them. I was watching. I saw a lot of people get hit."  
"Yeah, but none of them died. At least not that I saw. They'll be fine. Did you get the boys back safely?"  
"Of course. I _am_ a Wizard, you know. Your cure should be ready by the time we get back."  
"That was quick."  
"The rest was already brewing. It's a good thing the timing doesn't matter too much with that one. I'll have enough to do counter anything like you have for plenty of people as well."  
"That strong?"  
"Not exactly strong. It's just good at what it does. Come on," he told him, taking a side street.  
"Not back to the tower?"  
"I want to see if there's anything I can do for the others first."  
"You care about them, don't you?"  
"They're my people. This is my town. Why shouldn't I?"  
"Because you're a Wizard. They're meant to come to you, not the other way around."  
"So what?" he asked, removing an arrow from someone's chest and healing the wound. "Get some rest. You'll have to take some time off to let that heal properly." He turned back to Kiru and continued, "I'll do things my way. Besides, they're grateful for the help, and if they see me as a benevolent Wizard, they'll feel more confident in coming to me, and be more willing to help out."  
"I knew there was a good reason," Kiru murmured.

The casualties had not been high. Only two were reported dead, and of those injured, all would make a safe recovery. Roxas had seen to that personally, arguably doing as much healing as the Goblins had hurting. He'd wound up with somewhat bloody hands from it, but always washed it out before moving on to the next patient.  
It had taken him some time to get free from the crowds once he'd done, all being profuse in their thanks. Before they'd returned to the tower, he stopped by the families of those that had died and did what he could for them. Bringing back the dead was beyond him – at least unless any of the cards allowed for it.  
The tower's top room was as dark as the outside, but it lit up brightly as he returned to it.  
"Well, that was fun," he murmured, sinking into a chair.  
"Fun? You didn't do all that much."  
"You try using as much magic as I did today and then tell me that."  
"Speaking of magic-"  
"I know, I know." He got back to his feet, re-checked the details of the brew, and poured out a dose. "Best taken right before you go to sleep."  
"About now then," Kiru yawned. "I think I need it. See you in the morning."  
"You too. Or whoever you happen to remember being."  
Kiru laughed and left him.  
Roxas went outside the tower, looking out over his town.  
"Nice try, Darik," he murmured. "But you'll have to do better than that. See if you can do better tomorrow."  
The gem pulsed it's acknowledgement of his statement, ending his turn.  
"You're picking this up quickly," Darik's voice sounded behind him. "Don't get excited, I'm not really here."  
Roxas turned to see Darik leaning in the doorway, looking exactly as he had when they'd met.  
"You taught me too well. That was you who killed my Elf, wasn't it?"  
"Yes. The Terror spell. Normally I save it, but your Elf would have warned you about the Goblins. I wanted to surprise you with them."  
"You would have, but I noticed them myself."  
"Inconvenient. No matter. I've got plenty more tricks up my sleeves for you."  
"Bring it on, Darik," he grinned. "I'm more than ready for you this time. You don't have any idea just what I've got in store for you."  
"You're forgetting – I built the decks you're playing with."  
"You're forgetting – you don't know what I've got right now, or what I'm planning."  
"Touché. Good luck, Roxas."  
"If it's all the same, I won't wish you the same – I might need it myself."  
Darik laughed, then disappeared.  
"But if the cards cooperate, I won't need it," Roxas finished afterwards.

"Roxas, wake up."  
"Hm?"  
"You fell asleep in your chair."  
Kiru was stood over him.  
"Oh. Morning. Remembered yet?"  
"Naturally."  
"And?"  
"Come on, Roxas. You should have recognised me earlier."  
"Spare me, will you? I just woke up."  
"It's me, Roxas – Riku." He let that sink in, then continued, "You're really not awake yet, are you."  
"No. Go fix breakfast. It's your turn anyway."  
"When did that get decided?"  
"Who's the Wizard in these parts, and who got you your memory back?"  
"So? Do I get out of it if I tell you what I remember about Sora?"  
"You already told me he's looking for me."  
"Yeah, but I didn't remember all of it before."  
"So what's the rest of it?"  
"I stopped by another place on my way here, that Dariksville place. That's where I saw him, and he seemed to be having trouble with his memory too. Guess who helped him with that?"  
"Darik."  
"Right. Sora doesn't know it's you he's looking for – just the Wizard here."  
"Darik's cheating," Roxas accused. "Sora isn't part of the game."  
"Neither am I," Riku pointed out. "I thought of something else too. You've still got your keyblades. Unlike Darik, you can still defend yourself without magic. That gives you an edge over him."  
"Useful. How did you figure that out?"  
"Simple. The Keyblades aren't part of the game either, so they're not affected by it. Sora and I aren't, but we both chose to help. Sora's helping Darik because he restored Sora's memories, and I'm doing the same for you. We can influence the game, but we're not directly affected by it."  
"Unless I use a spell on you."  
"I reckon even that would only be for as long as the spell lasts."  
"How did you figure all this out, Riku?"  
"I don't know," he admitted. "But I'm guessing you didn't know some things before this game with Darik started either. So whatever gave you that knowledge, worked on me too."  
"Interesting. I wonder what else it did."  
"No idea. Has Darik taken his turn yet?"  
Roxas checked the lectern. "Not yet. I guess we'll have to wait."


	6. First Blood

Darik's turn was completed by lunchtime, though as yet nothing had materialized to show it. Of course, attacks were no longer just a case of choosing a creature that would attack, and the opponent blocking, here they had to make the journey to the other's town first.  
Now that he knew Kiru was really Riku, Riku was able to use the shortcut out of the tower. Earlier on, he'd sent him down and out into the town to talk to the guardsmen and some of the stable hands to arrange for some scouting parties to keep watch around the town.  
He'd drawn a card he remembered from his original game against Darik, Counterspell. An Instant, a special kind of Sorcery that could be played even on the opponent's turn. At the cost of just two Islands to counter nearly anything Darik could play, it would be invaluable. Remembering the Reminisce spell would return all cards in the graveyard to the deck for another use, it could prove to be highly annoying.  
In preparation, he added a second Island to his mana count. The ocean to the south expanded somewhat, and another mountainous island shuddered up into sight. Roxas wondered briefly why they didn't count as the red Mountain mana as well, but realized that no doubt there was a kind of land that did provide red and blue mana in that way. He just didn't have one, after all, the red cards were Darik's.  
Keeping the two blue mana from them unused, he instead summoned another green creature that needed only his lone forest's mana, an Essence Warden. She was another elf, but with a useful ability – every time another creature entered play, he would gain one life. After a brief discussion with her after she'd been summoned, he found the ability equally as useful for telling when Darik was summoning a creature, and telling what it was.  
He'd then gone down and told his bears – several times – to leave the scouts alone, and attack anything else that approached the town. As he was returning, Riku joined him again, having appointed himself as a kind of bodyguard.  
"I've got a bad feeling about this," he told Roxas. "I can't help feeling we'll need the bears here."  
"Those bears would just disrupt things if I put them here. It's probably nothing."  
"Wizard Roxas!" someone shouted from the far end of a street, beckoning to him. "Come quickly!"  
"Or not," Riku murmured. They hurried down to meet the man who'd called him, who in turn hurried off with them following.  
"You've got to do something," he told them, breathing hard.  
"Why does everyone start with that?" Roxas muttered, then louder, "What's happened?"  
"The graveyards are spitting out their dead by the dozen! Zombies are shuffling around attacking anyone who comes near!"  
"Told you so," Riku said.  
"Stop that," he told him.  
"Yes, oh mighty Wizard," he laughed.  
"How many graveyards are affected?"  
"All of them. We have four, three smaller ones and one larger. They're walled off, but some of them don't have gates."  
"Which one are you taking us to?"  
"The largest one, it's closest."  
The zombies, ashen faced and frequently dropping bits of limbs, shuffled around toward various exits and moaning mindlessly. One popped up in front of the wall Roxas was leaning on as he watched, subsequently beaten back down by a swift jab from Riku's keyblade.  
"Which ones don't have gates?" he asked.  
"The south and west ones."  
"You're going to need those bears," Riku told him.  
"I know that. Stop rubbing it in. You can go to the west one and start dealing with them there, then the south ones. I'll bring the bears to this one first, then the eastern one. We'll meet up along the way somewhere."  
"Surely you don't plan to bring those bears outside the town in the town?" their guide gasped. "They'll disrupt everything!"  
"They'll do whatever I tell them to, and right now that means destroying these zombies."  
"If he tells them enough times, that is," Riku added.  
"Stop that, and go play with the zombies," Roxas told him absently. "Stop by the guard on the way, they might be able to help keep them in the graveyards until one of us can deal with it."  
"You're going to lose a few people you know."  
"It happens," he sighed. "I don't like it, but it's going to happen. Go get on with it. I've got some bears to talk to. Again."  
"Can you really talk to bears?" the guide asked.  
"If you know what to say and what to listen for. They're a bit dense sometimes, and not too bright. Try not to let any of them escape before I get back will you?"  
"We'll try, Wizard."

The bears were eventually coaxed into the town, and persuaded to leave the townsfolk alone every time they ran across some. After a few times, the guard started clearing people away from the areas they were passing though.  
Roxas put the bears into one of the graveyards and unleashed them on the zombies, then after a moments hesitation joined them with his own keyblades in hand. He took no risks though, being uncertain what would cause him to lose a life point still.  
Though this one was the largest, there seemed to be fewer zombies here. Most of the time was spent chasing them down, but as they shuffled slowly around, it wasn't much of a chase. The eastern graveyard held far more, and had managed to break out of the graveyard. The watch had set up blockades in the streets to limit their progress, but quickly abandoned them when Roxas lead the bears into the area. He'd lost a few, and lost a few more in this one, but they were still alive, and that was the important part. He'd need them.  
Riku was already at the south graveyard when he arrived. Peculiarly, they paid no attention to him at all despite being completely surrounded.  
"Kill," he told the bears, pointing at the zombies here and taking care to ensure they wouldn't mistake Riku for their target. This time, he didn't join in himself, leaving it to them all to handle them. Between them and Riku, the zombie threat had barely been more than a distraction.  
Part way through, Riku quit and joined Roxas.  
"Fun," he noted. "They can't seem to see me at all."  
"I noticed. Any idea what they are?"  
"Zombies, Roxas. The dead reanimated with all the fleshy bits still attached. We call the ones without flesh _skeletons_."  
"Very funny," he replied drily.  
"I thought so too. Excuse me. I think I'm going to help mop up the last of them while they're still there."  
"You can take the rest if you want, and I'll get the bears back outside to safety. Then you get all the fun."  
"Would you mind? I'll meet you back up at the tower when I'm done."

"Scathe Zombies," the Essence Warden identified them when he finally got back to the tower. "Had it not been for the intervention of you and your friend, they would have destroyed the Grizzly Bears."  
"So if I'd just put the Bears there..."  
"The Zombies would have been destroyed, and the Bears also," she confirmed.  
"Interesting. Seems like the keyblades can alter the intended outcome just a bit. Is Riku alright?"  
"I cannot say. He is beyond the scope of my abilities."  
"I'm fine, Roxas," Riku told him, appearing on the spot of light at the top of the tower. "They couldn't see me, remember? I don't suppose you know why that is?" he asked the Warden.  
"It is the same reason my abilities do not work on you."  
"She means it's because you're outside the game," Roxas added. "You weren't summoned in like any creature, so the game doesn't recognise you, and doesn't act on it."  
"It is, however, affected by him, as you have seen," she told them. "Wizard, might I join the elven community below until you have need of me? I will send you word immediately if I detect any creature summons."  
"Go ahead. I'll let you know if I need you otherwise."  
She bowed once, then left through the same shortcut out he and Roxas used.  
"Will she be able to pass through the barrier down there?" he asked him.  
"Of course. Any creature I summon can. It's only for others I have to know their name to let through – or deny entry to."  
"Useful."  
"I know. If Sora's acting against me, it'll force him to take the long route if he comes here, and that gives me time to prepare. I don't think we'll miss his coming here."  
"If he comes here. This game ends when you or Darik hit 0 life, right?"  
"Yeah, why?"  
"You're going to need to take a more offensive role if you want to do something to him. Think about it, he's attacked you twice, and both times they've been fended off. He probably expects the bears to be defeated, so why not send them to surprise him?"  
"I already did, actually. They didn't have anything else to do, and if my guess is right, he doesn't have any creatures in play."  
"How did you come to that conclusion?"  
"Simple. The Goblins had to be a one mana creature played on his first turn. They didn't have haste, so couldn't attack on the first turn, so we saw them on the second. On his second turn, at two mana he played Terror and got rid of the Elf I summoned, and this turn he created the zombies. I'm fairly sure there's something strange going on, since they weren't meant to be able to attack this turn, but assuming he's added one mana a turn, he doesn't have anything left now."  
"The zombies didn't actually attack anyone unless they got too close. Maybe they were just protecting themselves, and we took steps to deal with them before they became a problem?"  
"Maybe, but it doesn't really matter. He's left undefended, which means the bears should get through."  
As if on cue, the gem on the lectern pulsed. Roxas examined it, finding there were now two gems, his red one still displaying 20, and now beside it a blue one showing 18.  
"Looks like you're right," Riku said, joining him and seeing.  
"First blood to me. Luck of the cards," he laughed, remembering Darik's comment when he'd done the same in their original game. "Your turn, Darik. Let's see what you come up with next."  
The gems pulsed their acknowledgement. His red one darkened in colour slightly. The blue did not light up yet. It would wait until tomorrow, of course.


	7. A Golem and a Friend

The first evidence of Darik's mana pool had appeared by early morning, a great mountain standing just behind his forest. There was still some distance between the mountain and forest, so there was no immediate threat.  
He'd been woken early by the Essence Warden, informing him that a Flametongue Kavu was being summoned. It had been hastily looked up, and it was deemed safe to allow. The Counterspell would be better saved for something more dangerous, such as a certain red creature that had caused the most damage in their last game – Crimson Hellkite.  
Roxas started to regret the decision later. Riku called him to the window quickly.  
"Look – over there! That red thing."  
"It is the Kavu," The Warden identified it.  
"He can't attack this turn. He only just played it."  
"It is not attacking," she replied.  
The red creature resembled a lion, but was too large. It ran into the fields nearby, found the bears and burnt them to a cinder with a single breath. Then it left again.  
"That wasn't an attack?"  
"I believe it is an innate ability of their kind when they are summoned."  
"An ability. Inconvenient. Did you..." he trailed off, then she nodded.  
As if to confirm, Riku went to the lectern. "Yeah. 21 to 18. Looks like you're still ahead."  
The gems pulsed, and yet another card joined the hand, one he recognised.  
For lack of any other land cards, another Island joined the previous two in the ocean to the south, bringing his total mana available to four.  
He was left with several cards he couldn't play yet, and three he could.  
Dancing Scimitar was a four mana colourless artifact that could fly. It had little in the way of attack power, but was a powerful defender.  
An alternative route could see two spells played instead  
Index, costing only a single Island, would allow him to examine and re-choose the order of the next five cards he would draw. It could be played alongside the Prodigal Sorcerer, a card Darik had affectionately nicknamed 'Tim'. It would use up his remaining mana, and wasn't all that powerful. It had the ability to deal one damage directly to the creature – or player – as he chose.  
Both routes would cost him the ability to cast Counterspell, but he doubted Darik could put anything major into play this soon.  
Given the lack of creatures in play, the Dancing Scimitar was put into play. It turned out to be exactly what it said it was, a Scimitar that seemed to wield itself. It took no commands, but instead seemed to fight against some unseen enemy, as if there was an invisible warrior training with it.  
The Flametongue Kavu was looked up next. The index – not to be confused with the spell he could have played – seemed to have a kind of meta-game context, being able to display cards in play.  
It had four power, two toughness, and just as the Warden had said, when it came into play it dealt 4 damage to it's summoner's choice of creature in play. Inconvenient, but the Scimitar could handle it for now.  
No attacks could be made by him this turn, so with nothing else to do the turn was ended early.

Over the next few days, it was suspiciously quiet. There was one attack by Darik's Kavu, easily beaten off by the Scimitar. It alone lacked the damage to destroy the Kavu. Riku could have changed that, but despite the game's ignorance of him he'd steadfastly remained away from the Kavu.  
Another Forest was added to the collection, extending the already existing forest considerably. Roxas had run out of land cards to play temporarily, but this only delayed things.  
The Prodigal Sorcerer joined the ranks of creatures available, and on the turn after it was joined by Roxas' own Kavu, the Rooting Kavu. Unlike the Flametongue, this one was a green 4 power, 3 toughness creature. If Darik ever managed to destroy it, Roxas could turn that to his advantage by removing it from the game, which in turn allowed him to shuffle all creature cards in his Graveyard back into the library, giving them a second chance to cause trouble.  
On the same turn the Rooting Kavu was summoned, the Essence Warden informed them of another creature summon, Drudge Skeletons. While they were discussing this development, the Flametongue Kavu turned up again.  
As it had last time, the Dancing Scimitar had rushed to the defence. Without even consulting Roxas, his Sorcerer used his ability for the turn to deal one more damage to it, destroying the Kavu. Darik was having a bad run of luck with his creatures this time.  
The day after dawned quietly as well, though a swamp had made it's appearance in the open lands between the oceans containing Roxas' Islands, and the Forests to the north. There was an attack by the Drudge Skeletons, though as they were low-power, the Dancing Scimitar once more dashed off and defeated them. A check on the card for them revealed that this wasn't the last they'd seen however, as the Skeletons could be regenerated for just a single black mana.  
Roxas put the next high-power creature into play on his next turn. He'd asked Riku to gather dead wood and plants from the forests for him in preparation.  
"Why am I gathering all this junk for you?" he asked after delivering the final load.  
"Because I'd be putting myself at risk if I did it myself," Roxas shrugged.  
"Yeah. But what for?"  
"Watch."  
He flicked a card into the jumbled mass of plants and wood. It seemed to come alive, reorganizing itself until a giant creature stood before them. It looked vaguely human, and very angry.  
"Tell me I don't have to fight that," Riku asked.  
"Don't be silly. This is a Tangle Golem." As had become a habit with Riku, he ran through the description with him. Having Riku know was sometimes beneficial. "Artifact creature, like the Scimitar. Normally seven mana, but it's got an affinity for forests that cuts the cost by one for each of them, making it playable sooner. Five power, four toughness, and all bark."  
"So I see. Can it talk?"  
"I'm not sure actually. What I've read so far about Golems says they can't, but I'm sure I can find a way if we need to. It's good for smashing right now. Have the Kavu returned?"  
"You sent them out?"  
"You were here when I told them to go attack Darik."  
"I guess I forgot. Doesn't look like it yet."  
"I hope he hasn't destroyed them. I've got some plans for them."  
Riku checked the lectern. "No. It's not here in your Graveyard. Darik's life count shows 14 to your 25, so they made it to him."  
"Must be on the way back then."  
The attack came suddenly and unexpectedly. The Golem had been put into storage until it was needed, and Roxas had turned to one of his many tomes, stood at the lectern engrossed deep in it, and it was only by chance Riku glanced out the window to see an axe of lava shooting straight for the tower. He stared at it for a few moments before realising exactly where it was headed.  
"Roxas!" he called quickly. "Duck!"  
Roxas glanced up, saw it coming, blanched and tried to jump aside, but the axe tracked him. Hastily he called on the keyblades to block it, rolling to his feet again, but the axe caught him before he could get anything in it's way. It impacted him full in the chest, sending him flying as if struck hard. He didn't catch fire as the smoking lava would have suggested, but it did have enough force to almost hurl him fully out the tower and off the edge. Only a quick reaction and a memorised spell saved him from falling all the way down.  
Roxas climbed back up and into the tower, muttering angrily under his breath. Riku helped him the last of the way back in.  
"Are you alright?" Riku asked him.  
He ignored him, going to the lectern. His life total now showed 20 again.  
"A one use spell," he muttered. "Five life lost."  
"I wonder why he didn't use it on a creature?"  
"Maybe he couldn't. I'm going to get him for this," he threatened.  
"Don't look at me like that, I didn't do it."  
"Sorry. I'm just a bit annoyed at him right now."  
"I wonder why," Riku murmured.  
Before Roxas could reply, a figure appeared from the light in the center of the tower. It wore chain mail with a sword at her belt, and a conical helmet. Attached to the mail was a badge proclaiming her to be a member of the watch.  
Roxas took this in and sighed, "Go on, what bad news have you got for me?"  
"Why, Wizard," she answered, an eyebrow arched. "What makes you think I bear bad news? I'm Captain Ariel," she introduced herself, removing her helmet with a bow. "The Commander of the Watch asked me to check on you after seeing the axe of lava head for your tower. Oh, and he gave me a message for you too."  
"I'm touched he's so concerned about me," he replied somewhat tartly.  
"Be nice," Riku murmured. "The message?"  
"We've apprehended a suspicious individual in the town who claims to know you."  
Roxas' irritability all but vanished. "Sora?"  
"I don't believe that was the name she gave."  
"She?"  
"Indeed. She was found in the Merfolk sector, apparently lost and with a poor memory. All she seemed to know for certain was her name, and your name. The Merfolk attempted to bring her to us, but the nearest Watch-house was in the Elven part of town. A few unscrupulous elves attempted to take advantage of her, and so she was taken into custody for her own safety."  
"Her name? What is her name?"  
"Naminé, I do believe."  
Roxas eyes widened with a sharp breath.  
"Well, well," Riku murmured. "Isn't that interesting?"  
"Stay here," he told Riku, a little more commandingly than he'd intended, then turned to his guest. "You, take me to her."  
"Whatever you want, Wizard," she answered, stepping back into the light.  
"Is she safe?" he pressed, following her out.  
"I sent someone running for a physician to get her checked, but she had no sign of physical injury if that's what you mean. She's a little upset for not remembering."  
"Wait a moment. I'll be right back."  
She paused looking puzzled as he dashed back in, retrieving the bottle of medicine he'd used to restore Riku's memory, then caught up with her again.  
"I assume there was a reason for that."  
"Naturally. You don't think I was running back up there for the fun of it do you?"  
"Aren't we touchy today?"  
"Naminé and I are close," he answered shortly. "The idea of someone trying to take advantage of her..."  
"Easy," she warned. "She's fine. She was found before anything actually happened to her."  
"Yeah, but if she hadn't been-"  
"Don't start brooding over what-if's, Wizard. I know from experience they don't make things any better. She's fine, leave it at that."  
"Thanks Ariel."  
"Trust me. If you're having issues with your girl, I'm the best Watchman on the force to talk to about them."  
Roxas hesitated, then asked, "Don't you mean watchwo-"  
"No." She interrupted. "Watchman. We think of everyone in the watch the same no matter who they are. One term fits all, so to speak. It cuts down on inter-species rivalries. There's still the odd incident, but very rarely." She held out an arm briefly to stop him, as a tavern door banged open. Two humans ran out of it with two elves looking after them, clearly angered. One drew his bow and nocked an arrow, but his friend pushed it aside and jerked his head toward Ariel.  
"Nothing wrong I hope?" she called to them.  
One of them disappeared, the other said something in a language Roxas didn't recognise. He and Ariel talked for a few moments in that language, then he too disappeared.  
"What was that about?" Roxas asked.  
"They're the owners of the tavern," she shrugged. "Those two were drunk and getting violent, so they kicked them out. We'll probably see them again tonight if they're still looking for drink – or violence."  
"You don't seem surprised."  
"It happens from time to time. People like to drink, and people who drink get drunk. Here we are."  
She led him into a bleak, stone watch-house, a stark contrast to the wooden buildings of the elves around it. It was like a miniature fortress.  
Inside was slightly more welcoming with the fireplace lit giving out warmth and light. Ariel nodded to the watchman on duty at the desk and headed to a door behind that lead to the upper floor. Various offices were here, most of them with closed doors. From the one at the far end, voices could be heard.  
"I wish I could remember..." It was Naminé, he couldn't doubt it.  
"I'm sure the Wizard will have something for you," someone was telling her reassuringly.  
"Are you sure?"  
"He's very wise. If he can't help you himself, he'll know where to find something that will."  
"Wise isn't something I've been called often," Roxas murmured to Ariel.  
"You're generally assumed to be. You might want to wait outside just a moment."  
He nodded, and she slipped into the room.  
"How is she?" Ariel asked the other watchman.  
"Worried, and frustrated still," he reported. "No new memories have surfaced."  
"I am right here, you know," Naminé said.  
"Sorry," Ariel apologised gently. "I just wanted to be sure you hadn't forgotten anything again. I've brought someone to see you."  
"Who?"  
"Our resident Wizard, of course, the great Wizard Roxas."  
"Roxas?" She said it faintly as he stepped in. "It's you! I remember you!"  
Naminé jumped to her feet and hugged him tightly. Ariel prudently took the bottle off him and set it on the table before it got damaged.


	8. One sided Wall, One sided War

The physician had examined Naminé, but found nothing wrong with her. He'd borrowed one of the physician's medicine cups briefly, measuring out the dose of his own memory restorative for her.  
"What is it?" she'd asked.  
"It'll help you remember," Roxas replied. "I happened to have just the thing for people having memory trouble."  
"Good thing you brought it along," she agreed, downing the small dose quickly. It was handed back to the physician, who wiped it out, nodded respectfully to Roxas then let himself out.  
"What do you remember?" he asked.  
"Give it time, Roxas," she smiled. "It hasn't taken effect yet."  
"I know, I meant what you still do remember."  
Her brow furrowed in concentration, then at last she said, "I was in a town somewhere... trying to get home, I think. I took a room there for the night, but when I woke up I was here instead. I wandered around for a bit, then late this evening..." she trailed off, looking uncomfortable.  
"You don't have to go into it," he told her gently. "Ariel told me already."  
Naminé looked gratefully to Ariel, who put a hand on her shoulder, then turned to Roxas.  
"I assume you'll be returning to your tower now?"  
"Yeah. It'll be safer there. I'm the only one at risk of anything there, and even then that's only because of Darik. He's nothing to worry about."  
"Then if you don't mind, I'll walk you two back there. Not that I doubt you'd be able to handle anything of course. It's just for my own peace of mind."  
"Of course. Riku should be be starting on some dinner by now. If you want, I can call ahead and ask him to prepare for four. You'd be welcome to join us."  
"Thanks for the offer Wizard, but I'm still on duty. Another time perhaps."  
Roxas had given Naminé another check up with his own magic to be safe when they returned, and so he could show off a little as her memories began to reassert themselves.  
After their dinner, he prepared a room for her. She took it almost as soon as he'd finished, looking weary.  
Riku stayed up top, insisting on keeping watch for anything else headed his way overnight. It was unnecessary, as Darik had clearly taken his turn, but Roxas left him to his self-appointed duty murmuring a brief "G'night," on the way.  
Darik could wait anyway, he'd decided. All these early morning and late night attacks were beginning to irritate him, so now it was his turn to return the favour. He already knew what he'd do, and had his suspicions about how the transition from card game to this real version would alter it.  
There was no point in worrying, so like Naminé, he took to his own bed. Though there was probably no point to it, he'd changed it slightly, to resemble his old room. It was a strange transition, from the unbroken yellow walls to the grey and white stones, but it made him feel a little more at home here.  
Dawn broke without incident. Roxas was the first to rise as the gentle dawn light broke the horizon visible from the top of his tower. He paused for a few moments to admire the view, until a snuffle broke the silence.  
Riku was sprawled in a chair, sound asleep. Well, he had told him it wasn't necessary to stay up. It was still his turn, after all.  
Using the last of his mana for the turn, he called in another creature – though it was not exactly a creature.  
As he flicked the card from his hand, it flew out the window the same way land cards did. It flitted along for a while, then landed on the waters between the town and the islands in the distance, where it vanished.  
With a great surge, the waters along the shoreline rose up in a great wave, though the wave was oddly shaped, as if the water on either side had just been sliced away. Away from the wave, the water's surface showed no sign of any disturbances at all.  
The wave crashed onto land, and froze in place. The water ran over the top, continuing the unbroken frozen wall into the distance behind the forests. Several minutes passed, then it re-emerged on the other side of the forest, water continuing to cascade down the ever moving frozen edge until it reached the water again. The frozen water slide down to meet the edge, then stopped.  
The Glacial Wall. It had no power, and couldn't attack, but with a mighty seven toughness and his suspicions proved correct, it would be difficult for Darik to mount an attack now.  
Of course, it would also prove somewhat difficult for his own creatures to get in and out, but he didn't see that as a problem. It meant they'd be well rested and ready to go after anything that broke through the wall.  
And he was expecting Darik to break through the wall too. All he had to do was wait until it happened, then send the Tangle Golem with other creatures to guard the breach. That was the theory, at least.  
Satisfied that he was at least safe from creature attacks, he returned to the lectern. The Essence Warden had already added the one life for summoning the Glacial Wall, though he remained unconvinced about it's status as a creature. The gems displaying their current life stood at 21-14 to him.  
"Let's see you reach me now, Darik," he murmured quietly to the lectern so he wouldn't wake Riku. The gems pulsed their acknowledgement of the end of his turn. His gem faded out, while Darik's lit up.  
He returned to one window, leaning in it to continue watching the day dawn over what he now considered his lands. The newly formed Glacial Wall gave him a clear definition of exactly where belonged to him now. In amongst the forests it enclosed was mostly bare land. He idly wondered where the town got it's food stores from, until something blocked out the light reflected off the waters briefly.  
A fleet of ships were sailing into what appeared to be a small port community along the shoreline, just outside of the town itself. As he watched, the ships were unloaded into caravans, which then made their way toward the town escorted by armed cavalry. Probably mercenaries, he reasoned. Most of them were human, though there were a few mounted elves.  
It was useful to know they were there. If he happened to need additional defence, perhaps he could buy their services himself.  
He found it difficult to accept that he'd need them though, given how their game had progressed so far. Riku's ability to intervene outside the normal rules effectively let him cheat, though he didn't like the term. There wasn't really any other way to put it.  
He wondered if perhaps Naminé too might be able to help as he watched a second caravan group head from the town to the docks. No doubt goods being traded to other lands. Were there other Wizards? Probably, but he recalled Darik's comments when he'd asked during their original game. It was considered bad form for a Wizard to intrude himself on a game in progress, and the game's rules didn't allow it. He had explained that there were rules for games with more than three players though.  
It was some comfort at least that he didn't have to worry about Darik creating an alliance of Wizards against him, but it was also equally annoying, as he couldn't do the same to him. At least their game was fair, even if it was unexpectedly real.  
His early morning thoughts were distracted by the gems pulsing again. Was Darik done already?  
He returned to the lectern once more, noting that his life now stood at 23. He'd summoned at least two creatures. A note had appeared on the lectern as well, though he couldn't read the writing on it.  
He turned to the Index nearby, and keeping his voice down he told it, "Show me what language this is."  
For a moment, nothing happened, then it flicked through several pages to show a complete alphabet in his own language and the one on the note, which it identified as Elven.  
He tried translating it, but didn't get very far. His hand translation read:

'Roxas, _a_ _a_ s_o_ _o _ss _ _r_a_s'

"This is taking too long," he muttered. "Show me a spell to translate this for me."  
The index turned up nothing.  
"Fine. Show me..." he thought for a moment, then continued, "Show me a spell that will let me understand the Elven language."  
This time, it flicked through several more pages then stopped. It listed a variety of means. He picked out the most simple one, though it would only last a short time. Afterwards, he found he could understand, and even speak the somewhat musical elven tongue.  
The note actually read,

'Roxas, Darik has summoned two Mindless Null creatures'

Well, that explained who it was from, and what had given him the two life points. Clearly the Warden was capable of some limited magic of her own. Either that or she'd been exceptionally quiet in putting the note there, and not bothered to disturb him.  
"Show me the creatures," he told the index absently.  
When it cleared, he noticed that it seemed to have a mind of it's own, going out of it's way to be helpful when he was vague. Instead of just showing the card for a Mindless Null, it instead showed a display of everything in play, on both sides. It was neatly divided over a double page, with Roxas' cards on the left, and Darik's on the right.  
Darik had four swamps and two mountains in play, all tapped to pay for the two Mindless Nulls. They in turn were two power and toughness creatures, with an ability which prevented them from blocking unless he also controlled a vampire. Which he didn't, leaving Roxas all the opportunity he'd need.  
Also in play were the pesky Drudge Skeletons. With all his mana tapped for the Nulls, it wouldn't be able to regenerate this time around. Perfect for getting it out of the way a little more permanently, and for dealing even more damage directly to him. Darik wasn't going to come out of this game so easily.  
There were also two Enchantments in play. Enchantments, he'd learned in the previous game, were like sorceries, except they didn't get discarded at the end of turn. Some were Aura Enchantments, meaning they had to be attached to a certain kind of card, but others were World Enchantments. That just meant they stuck around in play, not attached to anything until they were destroyed. They gave bonuses to creatures, made abilities available and so on.  
Both of Darik's Enchantments were World Enchantments. One was Blood Funnel, which caused any spell that wasn't a creature to have two mana knocked off it's cost, but at the cost of sacrificing a creature. If he didn't sacrifice a creature, he'd have to counter his own spell. At least it gave him the choice.  
The other Enchantment was called Dralnu's Crusade, and was the first multicolour card he'd seen, costing one black mana, one red, and one of any colour. It gave any Goblin creatures one additional power and toughness, and made them zombies as well.  
Neither seemed to be much of a problem. The former might give Darik some trouble unless he kept a stock of creatures around to sacrifice, while the latter would just make any new goblins slightly harder to destroy. All the goblins he remembered seeing weren't very powerful anyway, so it didn't matter.  
His card for the turn quickly joined the others, forming a third Island and expanding the ocean around them further. He was now just one mana away from bringing the mighty Thorn Elemental into play.  
Two of the islands were left untapped, just in case he needed Counterspell. From his remaining cards, he decided it was time he looked to defending his seas as well, summoning a Merfolk Assassin with the other two Islands. With only one power and two toughness, it wouldn't be winning any battles any time soon, but it's ability made up for it. If he tapped it, he could destroy any creature with Islandwalk.  
Islandwalk, along with it's counterparts for other lands, meant that as long as the other player controlled an island, it would be unblockable. Since he already had islands in play, it was perfect for stopping a tide of Islandwalkers before they became a threat.  
With the forests he added his own unblockable creature, the Mire Boa. It held two power and one toughness, had swampwalk, and for a single forest – one of which he had left, just in case Darik tried anything – he could regenerate it.  
His additions done for now, he made his way back down to where the Prodigal Sorcerer was staying and quietly asked him to destroy the Drudge Skeletons. After briefly outlining the reason, the Sorcerer broke into a wide grin and was happy to oblige.  
Finally, he brought the Tangle Golem out of storage, called on the Essence Warden and the Rooting Kavu, and quickly whisked them to the far side of the Glacial Wall. He provided the Warden with a one-use amulet that would transport the three of them back over to his side of the wall on their return, then sent them to attack Darik.  
Because of his quick preparations, when he returned to his tower, it was hardly surprising to find that he was still the only one awake.  
"Right where I left you," he murmured, seeing Riku still sprawled in the chair, then set about making everyone breakfast with a smile.  
He didn't even have to look over at the gems to know his life was already up to 25 from today's summons by him, or to know that Darik's paltry 14 would soon be an even more paltry 4. Barely a week had passed, and already he was well into the lead. He'd win in no time at this rate.  
He just hoped he'd get a chance to see the Thorn Elemental. If the card art was anything to go by, it would be an impressive looking beast, even if he didn't need it.


	9. The Bad Luck Returns

Roxas woke with a start, seeing Riku stood over him.  
"Come on, get up will you!"  
"Huh? What's going on? Are we being attacked?"  
"You'd better get upstairs, Roxas. You need to see this for yourself."  
Roxas snapped his fingers, using a little magic to get dressed instantly, then went up to the top of his tower.  
"What am I meant to be looking at?" he grumbled.  
The Prodigal Sorcerer, Essence Warden and Naminé were all at one side of the tower, watching something gravely. Roxas joined them.  
There was a blue mist washing in from one of the swamps. Where it touched the Glacial Wall, it dissolved into nothing. It had made a fair breach already.  
It was too late to use counter-magic on it, whatever it was.  
He quickly turned to the index and snapped, "Identify!"  
When it finished flicking through the pages, it listed a single card.  
"'Consuming Vapours,'" he read aloud. "'Target player sacrifices a creature. You gain life equal to it's toughness.' I didn't get to choose a creature!"  
"Maybe it's a casualty of the game becoming real," Riku suggested.  
"There's more," he read on. "It's got Rebound."  
"What does that do?"  
"He removes it from the game as it's played, allowing him to cast it again at the start of his next turn for no cost."  
"Inconvenient."  
"Naminé, would you check the life counters?"  
"26-11 in your favour," she called out.  
"26?" he echoed, then to the index, "Show the complete game."  
It reverted to the main view, showing Roxas' cards on one side, and Darik's on the other. One of the Mindless Nulls had been sacrificed by Blood Funnel to play Consuming Vapours. A new creature had taken to the field, and he didn't like the look of it.  
Darksteel Myr. An artifact creature with no power, and only one toughness for three mana. Not much of a threat by itself until he saw it's ability – Indestructible. Even if it took lethal damage, even if he used a spell to destroy it, it wouldn't leave play. This was one creature that would get in the way constantly.  
"Wizard, he is summoning another creature," The warden warned him.  
"What is it?"  
She concentrated, then nodded, "A Guul Draz Vampire."  
"Show me," he commanded the index.  
"You know, you're starting to get into your role here," Riku told him as the index flicked through. "If I didn't know better I'd say you'd been doing this for far longer."  
"I'll be glad when it's over," he replied. "Darik's starting to irritate me."  
The index stopped.  
"Interesting ability," Riku noted after a few moments.  
Roxas barely glanced at it before picking out the Counterspell card.  
"Wait!" Riku stopped him, holding onto the hand with the card. "Let it come into play. The Warden can give you one life from it, and then Tim can destroy it.  
Roxas took this in quickly, then nodded to the waiting Warden and Sorcerer, returning the card.  
"Thanks. I guess I didn't think of that."  
"Good thing I did then. Save that for anything bigger he can throw at us."  
The creature only had 1 power and toughness, but the ability made it less pleasant. If Roxas got below 10 life, it would gain 2 power, 1 toughness, and Intimidate, which meant that nothing but a black or artifact creature could block it.  
More to the point, if he let it come into play, the remaining Mindless Null would be able to block.  
He glanced out of the tower briefly, noting that the Consuming Vapours had already taken the last the Glacial Wall. So much for a defensive perimeter.  
"What happens now?" Naminé asked.  
"Darik might choose to attack," Riku replied. "But he can only attack with a Mindless Null, and Roxas has two creatures that could just swipe it aside without a second thought. I doubt he'll risk it.  
He didn't. The gems pulsed, and a new card joined Roxas' hand.  
There were no land cards available to him. The Thorn Elemental would have to wait.  
Roxas now emptied his hand but for the Thorn Elemental. A Sapphire Medallion was put into play, knocking one mana off blue spells, closely followed by the Emerald Medallion with the same effect for green spells.  
A Frogmite, a 2 power 2 toughness artifact creature was put into play. Normally it cost 4 mana, but it had Affinity for Artifacts, reducing it's cost to just 2 mana.  
This gave him three artifacts, allowing him to put a second Frogmite into play at just 1 mana, using all his available mana for the turn. He only had one card left in the hand now. It was his trump card, he'd keep it in reserve until he needed it.  
The Warden added the two life for his Frogmites, bringing his total life up to a mighty 29. If he lost after having gained this much life, he'd never be able to live it down. Not that he had any intentions of doing it.  
"Field," he told the index absently, thinking of the full display of cards in play. He hoped it's tendency to be helpful would work off that, and it did.  
"What are you thinking?" Riku asked.  
"I'm deciding if it's worth attacking or not. Tim can't, because he used his ability. The Frogmites have to wait until next turn. The Warden's out of the question, she's giving me additional life. Even if I did send her, she'd just be blocked by the Myr, and that can't be destroyed."  
"What about the Rooting Kavu and the Tangle Golem?"  
"One of them will get blocked, but the other will get through. My guess is he'd block the Golem because it has one more power than the Kavu, but even so he has 11 life now. He can afford to go either way, and not lose."  
"Send them anyway?"  
Roxas nodded, then looked up, frowning.  
"Where _is _the Tangle Golem? I'm sure it came back last night."  
"Storage?"  
Roxas shook his head, "One of us would have to be up. It can't use the pillar of light to reach another floor.  
The Warden stepped into the light, disappearing. After a few tense minutes waiting, she reappeared.  
"I fear something may have befallen the Tangle Golem, Wizard. It is not in the tower."  
He went to the shelves of orbs and scanned through until he found the one for the Golem. It was wandering through the town.  
"What _is _it doing?"  
"Can you tell where it is?" Riku asked.  
"I don't know. Give me a moment."  
He picked up the orb, going to the outside of the tower and looking between it and the town, trying to place it. For a few moments he caught sight of it hurrying across Seven Street after someone. He quickly counted how many rings down he was, then turned to Riku.  
"Tenth ring away from the tower! It's chasing after something. Take that amulet I gave you so I can keep in touch."  
Riku nodded, picked up the amulet and vanished. A few moments later he was seen running down Seven Street.  
Having placed the Golem now, he kept watch on where it should be.  
"It's just crossed Eight Street," he told Riku.  
"How fast is it moving, Roxas?" he puffed back.  
"Not as fast as you are. It's not built for speed."  
Naminé joined him at the window.  
"Can't you do something?" she asked.  
"He cannot," the Warden told her, standing just behind. "The Golem is a part of the conflict between himself and Wizard Darik. Only Riku is outside of the influence of that."  
"And Sora," Roxas added absently, then, "Oh, no. Sora. Riku-"  
"I heard. You're thinking what I'm thinking. You don't need to tell me."  
"They've taken a left at Nine Street and are doubling back down the next ring," he told Riku.  
"I'll be able to intercept them soon."  
Roxas nodded, though Riku couldn't see it. The Golem's Orb was replaced on the shelf.  
He gathered them round a larger, silvery orb, touching his hand to it. A few arcane words he didn't realize he knew, and it flickered into life, showing the scene around Riku.  
Sora, flanked by Donald and Goofy stopped running when they saw Riku at the end of the road. The Golem continued to lumber toward them.  
"Fancy meeting you here, Sora," Riku said. "Having fun, are you?"  
"Riku! Glad to see you. Help us get this Golem off our backs will you?"  
"I'm afraid I can't do that. I'm working with-"  
"Don't tell him it's me," Roxas warned.  
"The resident Wizard, who created it."  
"It's getting closer, Sora!" Goofy warned.  
"Guess we'll do it without you then," Sora shrugged. "Donald, remember what we planned?"  
"You're gonna take it on?" the duck asked.  
"Sure thing."  
Donald nodded, shouting, "Fire!" The Golem burst into flames. Sora took his keyblade to it, and Goofy naturally bashed it aside with his shield.  
"No... not fire," Roxas moaned. "Don't you have anything to counter that, Riku?"  
"I'm not big on magic," he murmured so Sora wouldn't hear.  
"If something isn't done, it's going to get destroyed."  
"We're deep in the Elven sector. I won't be able to deal with it so easily."  
"Distract them then, Riku – do something."  
"Something tells me I'm going to regret this," Riku muttered, then he joined in, standing between Sora and the blazing Golem.  
"What are you doing, Riku?" Sora cried.  
"I told you. I'm working with it's summoner. I can't let you destroy it."  
"You're on the wrong side again."  
"That's just a matter of perspective," Riku answered, blocking another strike. "To me, you're on the wrong side."  
"Don't tell me he's fooled you too."  
"Fooled? What are you talking about?"  
"Darik told me the Wizard here tricks people into doing what he wants."  
"Darik's beginning to annoy me," Roxas murmured.  
"Darik's wrong," Riku told Sora. "The Wizard hasn't done anything of the sort. He even cured me of some amnesia I was having."  
"How do you know he didn't cause it, huh?"  
"The Golem's down!" Donald called, joining Sora. Riku backed away somewhat.  
Roxas quickly glanced over to the orb for the Golem. It's view flickered then faded. He'd lost it.  
"Right," he said. "That's enough, I think. Everyone stay where they are. You too, Riku."  
Roxas paused, considering the idea of creating something a little more befitting of a Wizard to wear, then thought better and instead just created a staff that was just tall enough for him to lean on if he held the orb at the top in one hand.  
With one last bit of magic, he was on the scene beside Riku.  
"Roxas!" Sora exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"  
"I own the place."  
"You're the Wizard?" he asked in disbelief.  
"That's right. And that was my Golem you just destroyed."  
"What are you doing attacking Darik?"  
"That's between him and me. You're not part of it. Leave town, Sora. Or I'll have the watch arrest you. You have..." he glanced at the sun, then the nearest main street to judge the time and continued, "Half an hour before I send anyone after you. Don't try and come to my tower, or I'll throw you off it myself. Unless you care to work for me instead."  
"I'm not going to turn on Darik. He helped me."  
"Did he now? And what did he do?"  
"We were having trouble remembering things. He said you were the cause," he accused.  
"He was lying, but I suspect you don't believe me."  
"You're right, I don't."  
"Suit yourself. Now get out."  
Donald took this as a cue to try magic on them, but Roxas raised the staff in his hand. The Thunder spell Donald has been casting earthed itself into the staff, then he sent it flying back at him. Goofy prevented it from hitting with his shield, but still felt some of the effect himself.  
"Care to try that again?" he asked Donald. "I have more magic than you do as long as I'm the Wizard in these parts."  
Donald almost made to cast another, but Sora stopped him. "Leave it. We'll be back, Roxas. You haven't heard the last of us."  
"I can hardly wait," he replied flatly.  
"Was that wise?" Riku asked him as they watched the trio leave. "Confronting him yourself, I mean."  
"Darik's irritating me. I know Sora. He might not believe me, but he won't ignore my accusation about Darik lying. He'll be less inclined to believe him now."  
"And Donald?"  
"I figured something out about magic. As long as it doesn't influence the game between me and Darik, it won't use mana."  
"I get it. Donald's outside the game, so you can do anything you like to him."  
"Pretty much. I did tone down his spell a little before I sent it back though. I didn't want to do anything too nasty to him." He watched them leave through the gate, then took hold of Riku. "Time we headed back."  
Riku barely had time to say, "How-" before they were stood in the tower again. "-did you do that?" he finished afterwards.  
"It'd take too long to explain," Roxas brushed it aside. "Mostly because I don't get it myself. I just do it." Then he sighed and said, "Well, there goes the attack plans for the day, I guess. The Rooting Kavu isn't going to achieve anything by itself. I guess I'm done."


	10. The First Sign of Wizards to come

**A/N:** There's a minor discrepancy in the previous chapter caused by my rewriting a piece and forgetting to update another piece. Roxas has two cards in hand, not one - the Thorn Elemental, and the still unused Counterspell.  
Sorry about that.

* * *

Roxas knew as Darik had taken a turn that day, he couldn't take the next one until the next day broke. He'd almost decided to spend the day napping, so he'd be awake when Darik took his turn and ready to counter anything until Riku pointed out he'd used all his mana and couldn't cast Counterspell.  
Riku then insisted that Roxas get sleep as normal that night, because he'd doze through the day and keep watch on the game for him and take notes of what happened for him to review when he woke up.  
Roxas had reluctantly agreed, and instead gone down into the town with Naminé. The descriptions of Sora, Donald and Goofy were quickly circulated around the town's watch-houses, and posters sprung up with their faces on where store owners permitted. He did not want to give Sora an easy time if he showed up again, not after losing the Tangle Golem to him.  
Once that had been seen to, his less aggressive side asserted itself as he went around performing what to his populace must have seemed like minor miracles. A small temple to a god who's name he couldn't even pronounce was given the supplies they needed to repair the roof, supplies that they would not have otherwise been able to afford. A rat infestation was cleared up in a residence not far from the warehouses, so they would be discourage from spreading to the food supplies. A family suffering from a rare plague was healed, also allowing Roxas to spread passive magic over the town to prevent further outbreaks of that particular plague.  
Perhaps most unusual was a sudden influx of human refugees who'd come in from the port to the south. They told that they had been fleeing from another war between Wizards where the fighting had grown so fierce they no longer felt safe. Apparently Roxille had gained some reputation as a safe haven, and so they had pooled what savings they had to gain passage on a ship to join the city.  
This was interesting news to Roxas, not least because of that reputation he never knew he had. Other Wizards here? Well, obviously there weren't all that close to here, or their lands would be visible from the tower, but they were clearly close enough for the refugees to have heard of his town. Was this a part of the game, or was it... something else?  
There wasn't much he could do about these other Wizards, so he let it be and instead called in the master woodworker elf Kormel, who he'd met back when he'd first found Riku, to construct some new homes for the refugees. Roxas helped out himself, at first without magic besides from creating the supplies and projecting the odd illusion to help the builders. After he'd hit his own thumb a few times, he started to use it more often. In short order, the newcomers all had homes, and he provided them with food. Several of them who'd helped out even received job offers from those Roxas had called in.  
They had thanked him profusely for everything he'd done. He admitted it was quite a task he'd engineered, but as his residents respected him they were happy to help out when he called on them, and his own assistance in speeding things along showed them he wasn't above getting his hands dirty with the rest of them. If he was willing to show that to them and work alongside the craftsmen, he reasoned that they'd be willing to help him out in return in just the way they had today.  
"You care a great deal about them, don't you?" Naminé commented as they returned to the tower that evening.  
"Of course," he answered. "Riku asked the same thing. I told him the same thing. They're my people. This is my town. Why shouldn't I take care of them?"  
"Even those refugees. You did so much for them."  
"They used everything they had just to reach here because they'd heard it would be safer. They took a great risk in coming here, not knowing if what they'd heard was true. That reputation has to have come from somewhere. I can't just ignore it and leave it by the wayside."  
"There were probably homes free around the town, Roxas. You didn't have to build some for them."  
"Maybe. But what would they have gained if I had just found them places that were already there? Some of them have gained jobs just by helping build their own homes with me. Would they have gained that if I hadn't done something?"  
"You could have found them jobs."  
"I know. But I can't do everything for them. They're a close group, even if some of them aren't related. They know each other, they'll help each other out because that's how they got here in the first place."  
"How can you tell?"  
"I _am_ a Wizard," he smirked. "That, and I talked with several of them while we worked. You can learn a lot about someone if you pay attention."  
"Roxas," Riku's voice sounded. "Dinner's almost ready. You'd better hurry up if you want it while it's still hot."

That night, Roxas remained up the top of his tower for a time. Riku was dozing so he'd be awake when Darik's turn started.  
Roxas had turned the rail that had lined the edge of the stairs around his tower into a wall that matched the tower's sandy yellow, and extended it at the top so there was a kind of balcony that went right the way round. He stood leaning on it as the sunset, watching as the shadow of the tower faded, and the tower and adjoining wall around the edge lit up to mark the time.  
"You do seem to be getting a nice run of luck this time, Roxas," Darik's voice sounded. He appeared nearby again, crossing his arms on the wall next to him.  
"Let me guess, you're not really here again?"  
"Naturally. It's just another friendly visit. You've been a considerable pain, do you know that? I've never lost this much life this quickly before."  
"Consider it retribution for tricking Sora. He destroyed my Tangle Golem, you know."  
"He was bragging about it to me not long ago," Darik laughed. "I actually tried to warn him away from it. I wasn't sure if he and his friends would be able to take it on."  
"Don't you think you should stop lying to them?"  
"I had to do something to counter Riku," he nodded back at his figure sprawled in a chair. "It took me a while to figure out why my Scathe Zombies didn't destroy those bears of yours."  
"Riku agreed to help me though. You tricked Sora."  
"A bit of harmless magic to induce belief," he brushed it aside. "He'll be fine."  
"Maybe. You really irritated me with that Consuming Vapours spell, you know."  
"You shouldn't have put the wall into play," he replied. "I admit, I wasn't sure how the sacrifice a creature part would work. I realised you didn't get the choice when it went for the wall. I had been hoping you wouldn't just pass it off to one of your smaller creatures."  
"If I did have the choice it would have been."  
"No matter. I've got all kinds of tricks left." He turned and looked Roxas in the face. "Look in the skies tomorrow, Roxas. I've got a little surprise for you. It's a nice little card. I traded several valuable cards for it some time ago after a lot of searching. I don't usually pull it out for just anyone, but given how things are going..."  
"You've decided to spring your special gift on me," Roxas finished dryly.  
"I'll be interested to see how you handle it."  
"I won't need to if I defeat you."  
"True. Well, I'd better be getting back. I'll have to take my turn soon."  
Something occurred to him, and he said, "Darik, wait a moment."  
"I'm not telling you what I'm up to, if that's what you're after."  
"Oh, nonsense. I'd never expect you to tell me."  
"What then?"  
"Are there... other Wizards?"  
"Of course. There are far more people than me who play the game, Roxas."  
"No, I mean in this make-believe world created by our game."  
"That's impossible. No Wizard could join our game."  
"I don't think they're in our game."  
Darik looked troubled. "What do you mean?"  
"I had some refugees come here today. They were here because of a war between two other Wizards. They claimed the fighting made things too risky for them."  
Darik scratched his chin for a few moments, thinking.  
"I've never heard of this happening before. I suppose it _could_ happen if two other people were playing the game nearby, but I always thought these game-worlds we're playing in were kept separate. Be on your guard when our game is done, Roxas," he warned. "If those are two others playing the game and they hear about our own war, they may decide to challenge one of us."  
"I don't have any cards other than the ones you've given me."  
"Keep them," Darik said. "I don't really play with the blue or green cards much anyway. Maybe after our game I'll find out some of my others and give you a few more. You could personalise your deck your way."  
"Thanks, Darik."  
"Don't mention it. Well, back to the war," he smiled, then vanished.  
"Back to the war," Roxas agreed.  
Below him, the tower for the tenth hour began to light up.  
He checked the alarm he'd set to wake Riku up, then headed back inside.  
Other Wizards. Not directly involved in their own game, but there all the same, and with the hint that he might face another game with a Wizard he didn't know, a deck he didn't know, and only one game under his belt. Two if the one he'd played against Darik in the bar that night counted, but he'd lost that one for lack of experience.  
How would he gain new cards outside of trading, he wondered – would he have to take them from other Wizards somehow? Darik had made mention of the possibility of giving up a part of his own collection to him. Would he still do it if he somehow lost to Darik?  
Maybe he should ask about the White mana cards, the only kind not in their game. Darik had said the rules said nothing about how many colours you had in a deck, so theoretically one could have a five-colour deck, or indeed a purely colourless artefact deck. Such a deck would surely work well with cards such as the Frogmites, with their affinity for artefacts.  
Perhaps he could try a White-Green-Blue deck sometime.  
Finally he put the thoughts from his mind as he entered his room, and it's illusionary view of the World that Never Was and the Kingdom Hearts that the Organization had been trying to create. Somehow it hadn't seemed enough like home to him without it.  
Before he dozed off, he wondered just for a few moments about Sora. What had been done earlier had been done out of a fit of annoyance with his other in order to try and slow him if he ever came back into his town. Would it be wiser to lift it... or to leave it in place?  
He decided to leave it. If nothing else, it would inconvenience Sora more if he tried to take out any more of his creatures. The loss of the Tangle Golem still irked him somewhat.


	11. A Lazy Day

Riku was dozing when Roxas got up again. As had become his habit, he rose earlier than anyone else.  
Riku had made the notes he said he would. Taking care not to disturb him, Roxas retrieved the pad from underneath Riku's hand, and examined the notes.  
Another Mountain had been added to the mana pool, which he noted he could see just peeking over the horizon.  
Next, the remaining Mindless Null had been sacrificed first to play a card called Darksteel Reactor. Riku had added a note beside reading, 'Tell Roxas about abilities – not good news'. He'd read up about that in a moment.  
A Death Cultist had been played, then shortly after sacrificed for it's ability, which Riku noted had taken one life from Roxas, and given one to Darik.  
Kalastria Highborn was the next creature to be played. Riku had added the somewhat cryptic note 'Vampire Life – Swamp' beside that one.  
Finally, he'd also summoned a Goblin Deathraiders creature. 'Trample?' was written beside this one.  
There were no attacks listed as happening, so Roxas picked up the index and laid it on the lectern, wondering why he hadn't done so before. It meant he had the library, graveyard, life counts and the game display all in one place.  
The life totals stood at 31 to 12. To think all this extra life had come from the Essence Warden! That was one invaluable creature he had in play.  
He examined the index's display, running through the turn in reverse order.  
Goblin Deathraiders was normally a 3/1 creature, but because Darik had Dralnu's Crusade in play, it became a 4/2 creature. It also had the trample ability. When he told the index to explain the ability he learned that it was one to watch out for. Any damage that was left over after dealing with blocking creatures would continue straight on to him.  
Kalastria Highborn was also not going to be easily dealt with, being a 2/2 creature with an interesting ability. Whenever any vampire Darik had, including the Kalastria Highborn itself, was put into a graveyard, if he also paid one black mana he could force Roxas to lose two life, and gain those two for himself. Black cards seemed to have that kind of effect quite often, it seemed. Again, this explained Riku's short note.  
The Death Cultist, he had to tell the index to show him, as he didn't have access to Darik's Graveyard. It was a one swamp, 1/1 creature that could be sacrificed to take one life from Roxas, and give it to Darik, just like the Highborn, but for less. It made sense that Darik had used it on the same turn. It was a target for Tim as well.  
Then he came to the Darksteel Reactor, reading the card's details once, then a second time to make sure he understood it right.  
Not only was it an indestructible artefact, but at the start of every one of Darik's turn, he could put a charge counter on it. When it reached 20 counters, Darik would win.  
Riku woke with a start at the sound of Roxas' snapped comments about it, falling out of the chair.  
"What? What's all this noise?"  
"This is what!" Roxas fumed. "Surely there's some kind of rule against this sort of thing!"  
Riku realised the pad was in Roxas' hand, then despite not being fully awake, understood what was going on with a faint, "Oh."  
Roxas almost stormed to the balcony and looked up over the swamps in the distance. A tangled mass of black metal and yellowish energy hung in the skies.  
"Watch the skies," he muttered. "You watch your back, Darik. I'm going to get you for this."  
"I'll make some breakfast," Riku yawned, getting back up again. Roxas paid no attention, instead examining his hand, then grinning broadly when he saw his card for the turn.  
Energy Flux. A blue enchantment for one island and two other mana. Less one mana because of the Sapphire Medallion. It's ability would be a drain on both their mana, but that made no difference to him. It would annoy Darik back for the Reactor.  
"Riku, listen to this," he called, then read the ability. "'All artefacts gain: At the beginning of your upkeep, sacrifice this artefact unless you pay 2 mana.' Since that's not a destroy effect, or lethal damage, wouldn't you say that works around the Indestructible ability of Darik's Darksteel cards?"  
Riku thought about it for a few moments as he started buttering some toast.  
"I reckon it does. Darik's going to hate you for that, but you'd better watch out – it'll hit your own artefacts too. You don't have enough mana to pay for them all if you put that into play."  
"Oh, I know. But I get the choice of which ones to pay for, or if I want to sacrifice them all. All my artefacts are expendable. The Frogmites are the most useful ones, but they're also creatures, and if the Rooting Kavu gets send to the graveyard later on, I get them back. The two medallions aren't essential, and don't have all that much of an effect, so I can lose them. They're useful, not necessary."  
"Don't leave yourself understaffed on creatures, Roxas. You don't know what he might do."  
"Trust me, Riku. I've got a little plan forming in this Wizardly mind of mine."  
"Oh dear."  
"Stop that. Have I ever given you a reason not to trust me yet?"  
"Ask me again when I wake up," Riku replied.  
Roxas flicked Energy Flux into play. Unlike other cards, this one settled inside the corresponding orb, seeming to spin around inside it. Evidently it didn't have a physical form – at least not yet, anyway.  
Next he turned to the main game view, and consider an attack plan. He would attack this turn, there was no doubt about that. The question was, what with.  
The Mire Boa for certain. As long as Darik held a swamp, it was 2 damage a turn that was unblockable.  
The Essence Warden and Prodigal Sorcerer were better left behind, he decided. No doubt Darik would jump at the chance to eliminate those two annoyances – the Warden especially, after all the life he'd gained from it.  
The Merfolk Assassin was also going to be a poor choice. It lacked the attack power to stop anything but the Darksteel Myr, and that was indestructible.  
The Frogmites were expendable, and he didn't expect them to make it through next turn anyway. They'd join the attack, along with the Rooting Kavu. Even if he lost the Kavu to the Goblin Deathraiders, he'd still gain some benefit from it. Maybe it would make Darik think twice about who to block with.  
The orders were given out. The Frogmites would join the Mire Boa and Rooting Kavu in the attack on Darik. He paused momentarily, remembering Sora could still intervene and cause trouble, but decided there was nothing he could do about him. If Sora happened, then Sora happened.  
Given Darik's shortage of available creatures, he expected the Goblins to block the Kavu simply because it had the greatest power and was the biggest threat. Darik had used all his mana, so it seemed unlikely that he'd block with the Highborn, but if he did it was no great difference. He'd just lose one Frogmite, and the other would be blocked by the Myr. With any luck, Darik would spend most of his mana just to keep the Reactor in play, if not also the Myr, which would cut four mana a turn from his available count.  
Then there was his own artefacts on the next turn. While he had told Riku they were all expendable, he'd rather not lose any of them. Even if he lost both Frogmites, that was still four mana he'd have to spend on keeping the Medallions.  
As he thought about it, he realised he could have played Thorn Elemental instead. He did have enough mana, and the Emerald Medallion only made it cheaper to play. He decided for now, it was better kept in reserve anyway. He couldn't take back what he'd done so far, so just left the attack to go ahead, and instead wait for everyone to get up for breakfast.  
Once the smells of Riku's cooking reached them, it wasn't long until Naminé joined them. Tim, the Prodigal Sorcerer, asked if Roxas needed him at all. Roxas told him not right now, it was worth saving his ability for now, so instead he said he'd be down in the town instead.  
"Anything interesting happen today?" Naminé asked after breakfast.  
"Not really. That ugly monstrosity appeared no thanks to Darik," Roxas pointed at the reactor.  
"What is it?"  
"Darik's ticket to victory if he can keep it in play for 20 turns," Riku replied. "Our glorious Wizard was just a little annoyed by it until he found a way to get around it's Indestructible ability."  
"The card I drew this turn," he explained to her. "Every artefact in play has to be sacrificed at the start of it's owners turn, unless they pay two mana for it. Riku and I figure sacrificing isn't destroying or lethal damage."  
"He's not going to like that," Naminé remarked.  
"I didn't like the Reactor itself. I'm pretty sure he shouldn't be allowed to have something like that."  
"Well obviously he is, or he wouldn't be able to play it."  
"He's not going to keep it for long if I can keep him using mana. And if today's attack goes well, he'll be short of creatures, so maybe he'll decide to lose the Reactor to play some more of them."  
"Who did you send to attack?" Riku asked curiously.  
"The Frogmites, Kavu and and Mire Boa. Two damage to him for certain, probably more. I have a few theories on how he'll block them, but Sora might also happen to my creatures again, so there's no telling who'll come back."  
"You've got a back-up plan in case you lose them all, don't you?"  
"Sort of. I've got enough life stocked up that I can last a few turns to summon some more. I'm not worried about it. Today can be a nice quiet day."  
"Don't jinx it," Naminé warned. "Something could still happen."  
"Only to the attack," he disagreed.  
"Captain," Riku said to someone behind them. Emerging from the light was Captain Ariel.  
"I'd greet you by name," she said. "But I didn't catch it last time I was here."  
"I'm Riku. Is there something up?"  
"I'm afraid so."  
"Told you so," Naminé teased.  
"And I wanted a quiet day," Roxas complained. "Go on, what's happened this time?"  
Ariel handed a small bit of card to him. "Have you ever seen anything like this before, Wizard?"  
Riku and Naminé craned to see it over his shoulder. On it was a badly drawn, but easily recognisable form of a Shadow Heartless.  
"You've got to be kidding me. You're telling me there are Heartless in town?"  
"If that creature is what a Heartless is, then I'm afraid so."  
"Where are they?"  
"They've been spotted in several parts of the town so far. After it was notice that when they came into contact with someone, that person also became one of these Heartless creatures, word was put out to avoid them."  
"Have they always created more Heartless, or do some people seem to remain?" Riku asked.  
"I can't be certain, but I believe they've all become Heartless."  
"I don't think we're going to find any Nobodies here, Riku," Roxas told him. "Besides me, that is."  
"Nobodies?" Ariel inquired.  
"Never mind. I guess I got to go down into the town and deal with this outbreak of Heartless."  
"Why go down there, Roxas?" Riku asked. "Your Kingdom Key is the same as Sora's. They'll use it as a homing beacon. Let them come to you."  
Roxas leaned back in the chair and thought for a few moments, tapping his chin as a plan formed.  
"Ariel, would you ask everyone at the market at the base of my tower to clear the area? Stalls and the like can stay, but I don't want any people there, for their own safety."  
"The traders aren't going to like it," she warned.  
"They'll like being Heartless a lot less."  
"True. Do you want guards posted?"  
"No. They might be at risk."  
"As you wish. I'll report back to you as soon as it's done."  
"Thanks, Ariel."  
"What are you up to?" Riku asked after she'd gone.  
"I've got the keyblade, right? And I'm a Wizard too because of the game. Why not put the two together?"  
"You're going to use magic from a game that probably isn't real, on Heartless from who knows where, which are?"  
"Worth a try," he shrugged. "And if it doesn't work, then you and I get to go Heartless bashing."  
"Fun," Riku murmured.  
Roxas finished his breakfast, then went out onto the balcony and glanced down. Watchmen were ushering people away from the tower's base. From up here, he couldn't hear what was being said, but it looked like a lot of people weren't entirely happy about this. He hoped the Watch were telling them that he'd ordered it for their own safety.  
In a few streets, he saw one or two of the Shadows milling around. Some of them made attempts for passing residents, but didn't seem inclined to give pursuit for long.  
Experimentally, he called out one of his keyblades and watched one of them. It seemed to perk up, looking around for something. After a few moments, it ambled toward the tower.  
Roxas dismissed the keyblade and continued to watch, trying not to laugh as it stopped, looking around in confusion. Heartless were stupid alright.  
"Playing with them?" Naminé murmured beside him.  
"I just wanted to see what would happen."  
"Oh, really?"  
"Well, I had to make sure it would work."  
"Of course it'll work. Heartless are drawn to any keyblade."  
"Wizard!" Ariel's voice called. He turned and noticed her back with them. "The area is clear."  
He nodded, then made the keyblade reappear. From it's tip, he sent his own magic out, drawing a line of magic around all the entrances to the area at the base, completing it as he completed his circuit around the balcony.  
The Heartless came running toward the tower, called by his keyblade. Riku summoned his own, causing them to hurry along even quicker.  
As they reached the magic barrier, they seemed to trip over it and vanish, destroyed. He kept the barrier up for a short time after the last of them had stumbled over it, then satisfied there were none left, he remove the barrier.  
"Right," he said. "Now it's safe down there again, and we can all get back to having a nice, relaxing day. Again."


	12. When the Thorn Hits the Field

Late that evening, the attack finally landed on Darik. His Kalastria Highborn appeared to have been destroyed along with one of the Frogmites. As Darik had no mana available, he'd managed to evade it's ability, saving him from having to give up another life to him.  
The other Frogmite was blocked by the Darksteel Myr, while the Kavu appeared to have fallen foul of Sora. This meant that all his lost creatures, including the Frogmite he'd just lost, were restored into his library. Of course, this also meant his library had been shuffled, and that could have been either good or bad. Having no idea what the order had been beforehand, there was no way to tell.  
It was as the Boa and Frogmite returned that Riku noticed something, having come looking for Roxas.  
"Did you know Sora took out two of your creatures?"  
"Yeah. The Kavu makes the second."  
"Third, actually."  
"Third? Who was the other one then?"  
"Haven't you noticed your Dancing Scimitar hasn't shown up lately?"  
Roxas blinked. He hadn't noticed, and the shelves of orbs confirmed it – either Sora, or something else had taken it out, and no one had noticed.  
"You know, there's one good thing about this."  
"The Kavu putting it back in your library?"  
"Right."  
"Want me to stay up and keep an eye on Darik for you again?"  
Roxas considered this for a few moments, then glanced to the shelves of orbs.  
"No," he answered. "I've still got Counterspell available this time, and I haven't ended my turn. Darik can wait until we get up in the morning. I've got another task for you."  
"I thought we decided my role already? Standing in the way of anything your defences couldn't?"  
"Oh, bother that," he dismissed it. "I still have my keyblades if it comes down to it, and the town's watch is on high alert anyway. I might lose a few people, but they'll do what they can when the creatures fail, and I'll handle anything that breaks through. Anyway, I've got more than enough life to cover it."  
"Confident, aren't you?"  
"Not over-confident though. After the past few days, I'm not going to jump to conclusions. I thought I'd have won by now a few turns back, then Darik pulled his tricks out of the bag."  
"True. So what do you want me to do?"  
"Go to Darik's town and see what you can find out. Don't destroy any of his creatures or draw attention to yourself. Just find out what his people think of him, things like that."  
"That's all? You want me to run down and do a bit of recon? What are you up to with that?"  
"Simple. Remember those refugees? What if Darik's people are afraid of him, and rumours started spreading that he was fighting a Wizard who wasn't feared and wasn't afraid to get involved with the common people, a Wizard who protected them? What if they started hearing that Darik was at war with that Wizard because he didn't want them to abandon him and go to that Wizard for protection?"  
"Oh, very nice," Riku murmured. "You're going to filch his people from him so he can't use his own townsfolk against you."  
"Exactly. If he finds himself with a lot less people, he'll have to rely on Sora and his creatures to handle anything that crops up – and if someone were to 'happen' to be there to make those things crop up..."  
"He'd be left with gaping holes in his defences. I guess I'm the one you want to cause these things to happen, right?"  
"Depends on what his people are like."  
"How about I nab that amulet you gave me all that time ago so we can keep in touch."  
"I'm not sure about it's effectiveness at range. I'll have a look into it in the morning, before you leave."

Riku left early that morning after only the briefest check on the amulet to ensure it would work. Roxas also made sure it wouldn't be detected if Riku got too close to Darik's own tower – just in case. If Darik dispelled the amulet's effect, Riku would have no way of letting Roxas know what was happening.  
Just after Riku left, he finally announced his turn was complete, stood over the lectern watching events as the index showed them happening.  
All lands were untapped, something Roxas would have preferred to happen _after_ the upkeep, because then no mana would be available to pay for the artefact sacrifice.  
Two mana were paid to keep the Reactor, just as Roxas suspected he might, but the Myr was sacrificed. One more Swamp was added to his mana pool, bringing his total lands up to five swamps and three mountains.  
Roxas briefly checked out the tower's windows and saw the new swamp was very close to his forest, with only a small band of land where the woodland faded out, and the marshy land started separating them.  
A Zulaport Enforcer creature was created, a 1/1 creature which could be levelled up to provide it with new abilities and higher power and toughness. It was judged to be no serious threat for now, and left alone. Roxas expected Darik to use it's Level up ability for four mana to protect it from Tim, but instead the Doom Blade spell was cast, targeting the Mire Boa, and subsequently countered. That Boa was his own definite damage, unblockable – except possibly by Sora, as he was outside the game, but it was difficult to say whether he could ignore the Swampwalk ability.  
Then a second creature was played, Urborg Syphon-Mage. It wasn't out of the ordinary at first glance, being only a 2/2 creature, but it had the ability to take life from him and give it to Roxas – if he paid three mana, one of them black, tapped the card and discarded a card. It seemed like a bit of a high cost to pay to him, but Darik would no doubt make every chance to use it with his deficit of life.  
Then Roxas realised he had a problem. The Goblin Deathraiders were sent to attack him alone, and after the loss of the Kavu, he had no easy way to block the attack. The remaining Frogmite and the Mire Boa were unavailable, having attacked Darik the turn before, leaving only the Essence Warden, Tim and the Merfolk Assassin.  
If he tried to block, he'd need at least two of them to destroy the Deathraiders, and no matter which two he chose, he'd lose all his blockers – and worse, the trample ability would mean any leftover damage it dealt would continue on to him. He could minimise that and lose all three, but he'd lose a number of useful abilities in doing so.  
Then he saw a way out of it. It meant losing the Merfolk Assassin, and with it the ability to destroy any creatures with Islandwalk – but he had no evidence Darik even had any creatures with that ability.  
The Merfolk Assassin was sent to block, then he called on Tim and had him accompany him just outside of town. He was going to spring his own surprise on Darik now.  
The Deathraiders came into view beside the ocean, headed right for them. The Merfolk Assassins, though not at home on land did what they were meant to. He felt slightly sorry for them as they were methodically ridden down, but it was necessary. He just hoped the Merfolk community in town didn't take this the wrong way.  
Tim, having already picked up on the plan, began to prepare to use his ability while Roxas crossed his arms confidently, watching them approach.  
When they were close enough to start making out details, Tim destroyed them with a few words, and some chained lightning.  
Roxas heard the tell-tale sound that signalled the start of his turn as he turned to re-enter the city, and watched calmly as his new card for the turn shot down from the tower to join the Thorn Elemental. He didn't bother to pay the additional upkeep costs on his artefacts, losing the remaining Frogmite and the two medallions. He had a plan now.  
One more Island was added to the southern seas, then he gave a vicious grin and flicked the last card in his hand to the ground nearby. The mighty Thorn Elemental seemed to burst forth from the ground, a human-shaped mass of spiked thorns in a tough wooden brown that towered above him. It's eyes seemed to burn yellow, a burning emphasised by the similar burning that seemed to come from it's mouth, but neither set the massive beast alight.  
It gave a single screech as it stopped emerging from the ground, then turning it's face downward to it's summoner.  
"It's not going to turn on is, is it?" Tim asked quietly.  
"Don't be absurd. This is our answer to that," he pointed to the Reactor, visible even from down on the ground.  
"It's a shame it doesn't have the Haste ability."  
"Darik would probably think otherwise," Roxas laughed. "I doubt he'd like us paying a call on him with our spiky friend here. Come on, lets get back to my tower before anyone else gets up. It's my turn to handle breakfast."  
"I thought Riku had taken on that responsibility?"  
"I gave him something else to do."  
"Uh... Wizard?"  
"What?"  
"Behind us."  
The Thorn Elemental was making to follow them.  
"Stay here!" he called up to it. "Guard the town from threats!"  
It stopped, turning to face toward Darik's own town instead.  
"Didn't it occur to you to give it a few orders?" Tim asked.  
"I forgot. Besides, most of my other creatures are fairly intelligent."

The Mire Boa had been sent out to attack Darik and had been destroyed before it reached, proving that those outside the game like Sora could ignore the land-walking abilities. It was only a minor inconvenience though, now that the Thorn Elemental had hit the field.  
Roxas ended his turn for the day, and not long after Riku called on him.  
"I've got news for you," his voice sounded nearby.  
"I've been expecting it. Are you alone there?"  
"For the moment, why?"  
"I'm going to steal a trick out of Darik's book. Hold on a moment."  
He send the index rapidly flicking through pages searching for what he wanted, then found out the thick tome it referred him to for the details.  
In moments, his senses were transferred to an image of him stood beside Riku – the same trick Darik kept using to pay a call on him. They were on top of a flat roof on the outskirts of a sprawling city that seemed made from either black stone, or mud. In the centre of the town was Darik's tower. Roxas' tower resembled a tall sandcastle with a single staircase that finished just beside were it started, the only adornment being the balcony he added. Darik's on the other hand had a steep stair around it that circled it several times, without any wall or rail to prevent people falling off. It had large stained-glass windows, evenly spaced around the outside on several floors. It was difficult to say what they depicted from the outside, but it was clear that Darik had made his more than just a functional design.  
"Isn't that a little risky?" Riku asked, an eyebrow raised.  
"I'm not really here," Roxas answered. "So Darik won't notice a thing unless he sees me himself."  
"Useful. You were right, Roxas. His people are afraid of him. He doesn't go out of his way to help them out unless it gives him an advantage against you. They exist only to serve him as far as I can tell."  
"Do you think it's possible we might be able to steal some people from him?"  
"I've already spread a few rumours to see what would happen, but they're all afraid of what Darik would do to them if he found them trying to escape his grasp."  
"Tell them I'll protect them, and do whatever I can to help people reach Roxille."  
"It's not that easy. They find it hard to believe what I tell them about you. Darik's been in other games like this, against other Wizards. A lot of the other Wizards they've seen him go against at least appear to be just as bad as he is, so they expect all of them are like it."  
"What about Sora and his friends?"  
"I've been avoiding them. I managed to overhear them a while ago though, they were heading out to handle an attack you were making."  
"The Mire Boa. They destroyed it."  
"But it had Swampwalk. It was unblockable."  
"By creatures inside the game. Are you going to be safe here?"  
"As long as I don't draw attention to myself."  
"Keep a low profile, Riku – at least until I get here in the next few days – maybe even tomorrow."  
"Why so soon?"  
"What's brown, made of thorns and will splat anything that gets too close?"  
"You finally got it in play then."  
"Just this turn. Stay safe, Riku."  
Riku nodded, then Roxas cancelled his spell and found himself back in his own tower, exactly where he'd been before he left. Naminé was stood in front of him, looking curious.  
"Who are you talking to?"  
"Huh? Oh. Riku."  
"But he's not here."  
"I know. I sent him to go have a look at Darik's town. I just paid a call on Riku in person. Sort of."  
"Sort of? You were stood right here."  
"Well, I was right here. It was just a kind of image of me I projected to where Riku is."  
"So that's why you looked like you were talking to yourself."  
"I hadn't expected anyone to see," he answered, a bit embarrassed. "I thought you'd gone to bed."  
"I did, but I couldn't sleep."  
"I've got something to help with that. I used it myself once actually."  
"Does it work?"  
"Of course it works. You don't think I'd make a magic potion that didn't, do you?"


	13. Table Turning

Darik used the ability on the Urborg Syphon-Mage almost as soon as he'd paid the two mana to keep the Reactor in play, stealing another two life from him and leaving him with only three mana to spend on spells, in turn spent to play a Vampire Nighthawk – a threat if Roxas ever saw one. A 2/3 creature with Flying, Lifelink and Deathtouch – the former giving Darik as much life as it dealt out, and the latter ensuring that any creature it dealt damage to.  
Apparently with the Thorn Elemental in the field, there was no way he was going risk any of his creatures, and ended his turn early.  
Roxas gave a vicious grin when he saw the new card for the turn – he recognised it from before the time between this game and the first one, when he'd looked through the cards Darik had given him.  
Beacon of Tomorrows. For two blue and six other mana, this sorcery did not destroy creatures, or steal life. Instead, he could use it to make a player take an extra turn after his one. Used on himself, it would give him a second turn after this one, without giving Darik a chance to respond.  
To make it more powerful, it didn't go into the graveyard after being casted, but instead was shuffled into the library – a never ending supply of additional turns when the library got down to just a few cards left.  
With no other cards in the hand, and nothing else to spend mana on, naturally it went straight into play directed on himself.  
He almost turned to the attack, but had another idea and looked back at the spell he'd used to send an image of him to Riku, looking in more detail at the limits and possibilities, then if he could have grinned any broader, he would have.  
He decanted three doses of his memory restoring elixir into three tiny glasses, each one only just big enough for one dose – one for each of Sora, Donald and Goofy.  
He wrote a brief note for Naminé, or anyone else who might stop by, explaining things. After Naminé walking in on his talking to Riku last night, he wanted to take precautions to ensure people would understand this time.  
Then he set the three glasses into various pockets, and then making sure no one was around, "Are you awake yet Riku?"  
"Have been for about three hours now, Roxas. I've been stirring up what dissent I can for you."  
"How's it doing?"  
"Not too badly. I've finally managed to convince a few people to give you a chance. You should be seeing the first of them arrive in a few hours actually."  
"Good. Will it work without you for a bit?"  
"Probably, rumours have a way of spreading. What have you got in mind?"  
"Safe for me to appear there again?"  
"Hold on," Riku answered, and there was a pause. A few minutes later he said, "It is now, but keep your voice down when you get here."  
Roxas repeated the spell from before, but with the additional extras that would make the rest work, appearing in what appeared to be a sparsely furnished and probably cheap hotel room.  
"You've been staying here?" Roxas asked on seeing it.  
"The expensive places are all being watched," he explained. "What have I done to warrant the visit?"  
Roxas pulled out the three glasses, setting them down on the table. Riku showed interested surprise when they clinked together on the side.  
"They're real. Really real, and really here."  
"And you?"  
"I'm not. I had to modify the spell extensively to actually achieve this."  
"Impressive. Darik?"  
"Won't have noticed a thing. Now, I want you to go to him, and tell him you're turning traitor."  
"What? Are you serious?"  
"You won't really be doing it. It's so you can slip those to Sora and his friends. Darik admitted to a little magic on their memories to make them believe I was the one tricking people. Get those to him, however you can, tell them the truth and then don't let them reveal the truth to Darik."  
"Then what?"  
"Then report back to me as soon as you've got that. You've got the rest of today. If you really need it, I can give you tomorrow as well."  
"What about Darik's turn?"  
"Thanks to a spell I just played, he doesn't have one until I've taken one more after this one."  
"Neat. But you'd prefer it done today?"  
"Absolutely. If you can't do it today, try to tell me so, because I've still got an attack to make today. If I decide to."  
"Why not just hold it off for a time?"  
"Then he might start suspecting that something's up if I put it of too long. I'm going to get back before Darik manages to find out I've stolen this trick of his and expanded on it. Try not to call on me unless you need to."  
Riku nodded, then Roxas cancelled the spell, senses returning to the tower. The lack of the bottles coming back meant he was slightly disoriented momentarily, but that was the cost of the addition. He'd known it was going to happen.  
Tim was called on to destroy the Zulaport Enforcer before it became a threat, but otherwise everything could wait. No more cards to play or abilities to activate. If Riku could get Sora on his side soon, the four of them could cause a a little trouble for Darik before today's attack, and hopefully secure his victory for certain this time.  
After the last time he'd thought that, he wasn't going to get his hopes up.  
After breakfast, he headed back down into the town again, making arrangements and preparations for the new influx of residents Riku was creating. In order to make room, he quickly researched the original spell people thought he'd used to create the walls, and extended them again, adding yet another street and ring for them to build on. He might strain the town's resources a bit more, but it was hard to tell – the town actually had it's own mayor that ran it, something he'd only found out today when he'd been running around making the various arrangements in preparation.  
And naturally if all else failed, he could lend a hand sustaining the town for a time if he had to – he was the one ultimately causing these expansions, he was responsible for it. It was only fair to do something to keep it running smoothly.  
True to his word, the first of Riku's immigrants began to join them not long before lunchtime. They huddled in small groups of three or four, most likely families travelling together. They were very wary, keeping to themselves as much as possible. They appeared to keep some contact with each other, and eventually gathered together at the junction of Three Street and Second Ring.  
Having little else to do, Roxas was out on the balcony of his tower watching this, as well as keeping an eye on the new construction efforts in the belt of land between the Fourteenth Ring and the new Fifteenth one.  
As the frequent messenger between the town's watch and their resident Wizard, Ariel came up and out to join him.  
"They came in today," she told him. "From the next town over, Dariksville."  
"I know. I saw them coming in."  
"They want to see you, but they're afraid to ask. Apparently the Wizard where they come from isn't thought of very highly, and they've little to no contact with other Wizards, so they seem to think you might be like them."  
"Isn't seeing what I've done enough for them?"  
"Apparently not. If you don't mind, I suggest meeting them on their own terms."  
Roxas considered this, then answered. "Not exactly. Tell them they only have to look up here to see me, and if they want a closer look then they're welcome to come on up and see me in person. If they're still afraid, tell them they have my word I won't do anything to them. I'll clear up what's in the tower there to one of the other floors for now, and they can use the beam of light to come straight up."  
"Are you sure?"  
"Trust me, Ariel. They might be afraid of me, but I'm not going to turn them away. And even if they can't find it within themselves to come up here, they're also welcome to stay with us."  
"You knew they were coming, didn't you? Before anyone else did, I mean."  
"Naturally. That's why I started the expansions at the edge early. Go let them know for me Ariel. I've got some tidying to do."  
Ariel nodded, electing to take the stairs to give him time to clear up, though it wasn't necessary. The contents of the tower room were transported to one of the many empty rooms lower down in the tower, with the exception of the index. This was called directly to him, and told to display the life totals in addition to the main game view.  
As he noted the life totals stood at 33 to 14 in his favour, he was reminded of Zexion and his ever-present lexicons. The index was larger than the lexicons had been, but he held it similarly enough to bring back the memory.  
It didn't last long though, as he glanced down to note Ariel almost at the bottom. The stairs seemed long, but a little bit of magic trickery made the trip up and down them far shorter than it should have been.  
Word seemed to go through the crowd fairly quickly, almost like a tide of faces turning warily up to look at him. He glanced down, nodding to them, then turned back to the index, more for the show of it than any real interest. He didn't have anything to look up right now, and the game wasn't going to progress without him, so he sent it down to the lectern by making it vanish with a pop. Several parts of the crowd started back somewhat on seeing this, and at the same time several of the newcomers got up nerve to enter the tower below, to use the light to come up. Some didn't trust this, electing to use the stairs instead.  
He was briefly apprehensive, but pushed the feeling aside as the first of them appeared in the tower room.  
"Welcome to Roxille," he greeted them. "I believe you're looking for me?"  
"Are you the Wizard?" one asked him.  
"Naturally. Wizard Roxas, at your service." He gave a slight bow. "I protect everyone here, no matter who they are, what they do or used to do, where they're from – it doesn't matter to me, so long as everyone stays within the law. Set out by the watch, not me. I might make suggestions, but it's up to them whether to put them in place or not."  
"So you have no say over what goes on in the town?"  
"Oh, I have a bit of influence, but I never make demands or issue commands. I prefer to ask for willing cooperation, and I'll gladly help with the work alongside the common folk, whether with or without magic."  
"What about other Wizards?"  
"I don't go around picking fights with them," he answered. "But if I have to fight them, I'll do whatever I can to keep all inside these walls safe. I might play to win, but I consider the people too. You've nothing to fear from me."  
Others came thick and fast from that, and most went away with at least a more open mind than before, if not the start of being convinced. Many of them said they'd have to see things for themselves to fully believe it, but it was a good start.  
Naminé, unaware of their guests, joined him up top at one point and was quickly pressed on for answers about what he was like. After convincing them he wasn't a bad person, and explaining he'd even helped her out specifically they let her be. She went down into the town after that so she wouldn't disturb the constant stream of visitors.  
As the light began to fade, the stream tapered off and eventually stopped entirely, allowing him to safely restore the furniture and such that had cluttered the tower's topmost room. It had seemed bare without it all.  
Just after they'd had dinner and Roxas was washing the dishes – or rather, watching them wash themselves, an interesting sight – Riku finally called on him.  
"Roxas, are you busy?"  
"Nothing I can't leave to handle itself. What's the word?"  
"Hey, Roxas," Sora's voice chipped in. "Guess we owe you an apology for that Golem."  
"Riku cured you of Darik's influence then?"  
"Yup, all three of us. He doesn't suspect a thing as long as I pretend to still hate you and everything."  
"You can make up to me for the Golem, you know. Darik put a creature into play that I'd rather he hadn't."  
"Let me guess. It's the Vampire Nighthawk, isn't it?"  
"How did you know?"  
There was an awkward silence, then Donald's voice cut through with, "Just tell him already."  
"I kind of... suggested it to Darik. He showed me what he could play, and asked me what I thought would annoy you the most. It was before Riku got to me though," he added.  
"I think I can forgive you for it if the four of you would be so kind as to make it 'happen' to disappear again for me."  
"This is why you were holding off on your attack, isn't it?" Riku asked. "So you could attack without the threat of it taking out old Thorny."  
"That's the one. Let me know as soon as it's out, guys. I want to send the attack as soon as possible. If you can keep Darik from finding out until I attack, all the better."  
"We'll see what we can do for you," Riku promised. "We won't call again until we're done, or unless we run into any problems."


	14. Endgames and Offers

The Vampire Nighthawk was dispatched late that night, and Riku woke Roxas for just long enough to let him know it was safe to send an attack. The attack was not just the Thorn Elemental, instead he included the Essence Warden. He'd apologised to her for it, explaining that while Darik would probably jump at the chance to eliminate her, he was just as likely to block the Elemental given his low life count, and in any case if she were to get blocked by Darik's only available creature, the Urborg Syphon-Mage, he'd already told Tim to use his ability in conjunction to the damage she dealt to it, ensuring that if she went down, it went with her.  
The Thorn Elemental was told to make use of an ability he'd had to look up to understand, which allowed it to deal damage completely ignoring the blockers. No matter what happened, Darik would take seven damage from it, even if he blocked. This had the downside that he couldn't split it between blockers and Darik, so if it became blocked it wouldn't harm the Syphon-Mage, but once the Essence Warden had left with it, he privately admitted he was hoping Darik would see this and block her attack instead.  
After that, he'd settled back into sleep, waiting for the coming dawn that would bring a second turn to devastate Darik even more. This battle was definitely his now. Darik had no mana available to spend, only one creature left, and with only 14 life, all he had to do was get the Thorn Elemental to reach him twice – the first time coming up any moment now.  
"Roxas, wake up."  
"Um? Naminé? What's up?"  
"You've overslept. It's nearly ten in the morning if your walls are any indication."  
Roxas smiled blearily back. "Don't worry. I haven't missed anything."  
"But what about Darik?"  
"Why don't you check the lectern and see what happened while I get up then?" he suggested. With the stream of visitors the day before, he'd neglected to tell Naminé about the Beacon of Tomorrows spell he'd played. It would be a nice little surprise for her, he thought as he redressed for what might well have been the last time in this game. There was no doubting it now – this would be the turn he won for the first time, and defeated his opponent.  
He picked out the staff he'd created back when Sora had taken out his Tangle Golem, altering it so part way down, it could be split into two parts. There was no real point to it, or what he had planned for it, but he felt given the occasion that would soon arise, a little showing off couldn't hurt.  
When he finally made his way up to the top of the tower, Naminé called him over quickly.  
"I think he did something last night," she told him. "Your Essence Warden was destroyed."  
He felt a momentary pang of regret for the Warden that had given him so much life through the game, but remembered she'd come again in games to come. It wasn't as permanent as it seemed.  
"No, Naminé," he told her gently, turning to the index. "Show me the Beacon of Tomorrows card."  
"What's it do?"  
"Read it yourself," he told her. "I played it last turn."  
Naminé's eyes widened as she read the card.  
"So... this means... it's your turn... again?"  
"That's right."  
"And the Warden? What happened?"  
"I sent her with our thorny friend to attack Darik last night. She understood the reason for it. See here, he's got no creatures left? He blocked her with his Urborg Syphon-Mage, and Tim used his ability to finish it off after it had taken the one damage the Warden could do, leaving him defenceless. Look up at the life totals," he indicated the gems.  
"33 to 7... you've won, haven't you?"  
"I certainly hope so. Now, how would you like to see it happen in person with me?"  
"In person? You mean... actually go with you?"  
"Naturally. I'm going to lead this final attack myself, with you, me, Tim and Thorny. Riku cured Sora and his friends of Darik's influence, so they'll be there too."  
"I'm definitely coming then. We'll see the Wizard together. Darik that is. I get to see you all I want."  
"I know. But we can't stick around for long, as soon as we have some breakfast, I'll let the mayor know what's happening, then it's time to leave."  
"What about your card for the turn?"  
"Oh. How careless of me." He willed his hand to appear, showing the newly drawn card, a Trygon Predator, and the first multi-colour card of his own. For one green mana, one blue mana and one more of any kind, it was a 2/3 creature with flying, that also allowed him to destroy an artefact or enchantment belonging to any player it dealt damage to. "I could have done with it a little earlier," he murmured, flicking it into play and ordering it to watch over the town in his absence.  
"That's alright. At least you know it's there for future games."

Roxas obtained them a two-horse carriage to ferry himself, Tim and Naminé to Dariksville safely and without too much exertion, while the Thorn Elemental thumped along nearby with the orders to ensure the safety of the carriage. It wasn't really necessary, as it's towering form probably dissuaded bandits and other creatures alike from coming too close.  
They detoured south around the swamps along the coastline of the ocean created by Roxas' Islands. He noted the presence of fishing fleets out among them as they progressed, either owned by his own or Darik's people. Either way, they provided food to one of the two.  
He idly wondered what would happen to Dariksville after he beat Darik, but concluded it would probably still be there for future games he played, just as Roxille would be for his own. What nagged at his mind was his tower, though. He'd been in the town that had become Roxille when he first met Darik, and there had been no tower. Perhaps the tower just set up shop in whatever town he happened to be in when he started a game, and the innate magic altered the memories of those present to believe it had always been there? Or would he be brought back to the town he'd taken care of in this game?  
He'd find out sooner or later. No doubt other Wizards had heard of him by now, since his town had gained it's reputation.  
Along the way, he heard from Riku, who asked him if he knew anything about a carriage headed from Roxille.  
"Come to the southern gates of Darik's town," Roxas replied. "Bring the others if you can. You'll understand when the carriage gets there. Don't contact me again though, it might be unsafe."  
"Why?"  
"You'll see," he answered, keeping it deliberately mysterious.  
The midway point was obvious, as Darik's tower began to peek over the horizon, and his own receded beneath the opposite one, and they paused for lunch under the Thorn Elemental's watchful eye. It wasn't really necessary, but it kept it out of trouble.  
The remainder of their trip was uneventful, except for a pause at the gates of Darik's town where Riku, Sora, Donald and Goofy joined them in the carriage. It was a little cramped until Tim took Naminé up on the roof.  
"Fancy meeting you here," Roxas greeted them. "One moment," he said then, holding up a hand. He leaned out of the window of the carriage, then called up to the Thorn Elemental, "Break down the walls so we can get in!"  
There was a lot of crashing and crunching, which they pretended to completely ignore.  
"An unexpected visit?" Riku asked curiously.  
"Oh, expected. I just didn't get around to telling you." There was some more crunching as Tim directed the carriage onwards. "I thought you'd all like to be around when I finish Darik off personally."  
"Is he really that close to losing?"  
"You should have been there this morning," Sora told Riku. "He was livid when he found out he'd lost the Vampire Nighthawk, and called you some pretty nasty things. Then we got attacked by Roxas' thorny friend there, and he got taken down to just seven life left over. He knows he's going to lose, but doesn't really want to accept it."  
"I can't abide sore losers."  
"He'll have to accept it," Roxas replied. "We're almost there. I suppose you don't happen to know of a quick way up to the top of his tower?"  
"Only if he wants you to," Sora told him. "Otherwise you gotta use the stairs."  
"Inconvenient. I think I'm going to have to do something about that." He leaned out again, looked up, then came back in. "We seem to be here," he told them pleasantly as if talking about the weather, then picking up the staff. "Shall we go?"  
The Thorn Elemental was ordered to wait for his signal to attack, then he created a platform underneath them to lift them all up. Tim elected to stay behind to watch their carriage just before Roxas sent their platform skywards, stopping it at the top of the stairs.  
"After you," Goofy murmured to him.  
"You all have to step off first. As soon as I step off, it'll disappear."  
"Oh. Guess we gotta go first then."  
"Sora, if you don't mind, would you care to lead the way and handle the introductions?"  
"Doesn't he know you already?"  
"Oh, for sure. But I'm guessing he doesn't know I'm here yet. Show off a little, Sora."  
Sora smirked at him, leading his friends into the tower while the rest of them waited just outside.  
"I found some people who want to see you, Darik," he told Roxas' opponent.  
"I'm busy," he answered shortly.  
"They're pretty insistent on seeing you."  
"Oh, fine. Show them in."  
Sora beckoned to Riku first.  
"You already know Roxas' right-hand ally, Riku."  
"Don't mind me," Riku told Darik as he entered. "I'm just here with everyone else."  
"You destroyed my Nighthawk," Darik accused.  
"There's a small matter with that to be cleared up, but not by me. Go on, Sora. Don't keep Darik waiting."  
There was a pause, then Sora continued, "Naminé, a close friend of Roxas' with power over memories. Sometimes called a witch, but I don't think that's all that kind."  
"You're too nice to me," she told Sora. "It's what I am, I accept that. You're taller than I imagined," she told Darik.  
"And now, for our final guest, powerful, great, whatever you want to call him, our friend Wizard Roxas."  
Now Roxas stepped up into Darik's view, turning calmly into the tower.  
"Nice place you've got here," he told Darik. "Not exactly to my tastes though."  
"What are you doing here?"  
"Oh, nothing much. I just decided I was going to be present. You can blame me for stealing Sora and his friends from you, by the way. They're all responsible for what happened to the Vampire Nighthawk, but I'm the one that told them to do it."  
"Why?"  
"Why not? None of them are part of the game, but we both ended up using them to try to gain the edge over each other. It didn't really make much difference though, did it?" Roxas twisted the staff, then willed his keyblades to replace them. "Now the question is, should I finish you personally, or leave it up to my other friend."  
"Other... friend?" Darik asked, not realising.  
"Other friend it is. Hey, Thorny!" he shouted out of the tower. Darik realised.  
A barrage of thorns shot sideways through the tower, completely missing everyone except Darik.  
The view blurred around them, the tower room fading to be replaced with the same table and bar they'd played the original game at. Sat at the table beside them were Sora, Riku, Donald, Goofy and Naminé.  
"Well played, Roxas," Darik conceded, shaking his head. "Well played. As promised." He took out the white tin, holding his white cards. "Take them. I favour black and red anyway. But promise me something?"  
"What's that?"  
"Don't you ever lose to another Wizard, Roxas. Otherwise I'll feel even worse about losing to you."  
"Me? Lose? Are you trying to be funny, Darik?"  
"I guess it is kind of unlikely. Now, how about a round of drinks – on me."

Roxas rose early from his rented room, and explored the town. It was the same one he'd first encountered Darik in. There was no tower at all, but there had been some new buildings constructed. He spotted the familiar figure of Kormel the wood-working elf already up and hard at work. He was certain now, this town had been Roxille for the duration of the game – and if a short discussion with Darik was anything to go by, his tower and the changes would return every time he took part in another game, providing him with the same town, the same people, and the same setting. Only the arrangement of other nearby towns and Wizards would change depending on their proximity to him, and whether they were involved or not.  
He spotted several other figures and even a few places as he wandered around, but none recognised him. Naturally not, he wasn't known here unless his tower was here.  
While he was about however, a stranger in a flowing robe of red and white fell into step beside him.  
"Wizard Roxas, I presume?" he asked.  
"Until recently," he answered warily. "And you are?"  
"Wizard Sebastion. I was embroiled in my own war during the initial part of your match with Darik, and when I finished I took an interest."  
"You know him?"  
"He and I often spar just for old-times sake. He introduced me to the game, just as he did you."  
"How long ago was that?"  
"A few years now. He likes to spread the game to as many people as he can, so more people can enjoy it."  
"He spread it to one more with me then. Even if I am still kind of new to it."  
"Indeed. New as you are, however... would you care to match wits against me?"  
"Are you challenging me to a game?"  
"Feel free to turn me down, of course. I understand if you want to take a break after your last match."  
"Give me some time. I want to work on my deck a bit before I take on anyone else."  
"Of course. In the interests of fairness, I play a red and white deck."  
"How is telling me that making it fair?"  
"It's so you can plan your own deck to take advantage of it. Call it a handicap if you will, to make up for your lack of experience. I would, however, take it as a kindness if you'd ask your friends to keep out of it though."  
"I guess they did make it a little unfair."  
"I don't think you'd have had anything to worry about even without them, Roxas. Come find me when you're ready. I've rented a room at the same bar you're staying at."  
"If someone else challenged me, and I decided to take them on instead... would you mind?"  
"Oh, have you received another challenge already?"  
"Well, no, but if I did... I'd want to know more about all my challengers first, so I could decide for myself."  
"Ah, I see. In any order you choose then. I'll wait my turn if you decide to take on another before me."


	15. Round Two, The Battlemage and I

**A/N: **Right, after a long wait and no less than five decks submitted to me along with my own one, Roxas has finally persuaded me it's about time he took on another challenger.  
There was no personal preference in deciding who's deck and corresponding Wizard were chosen in the slightest. With six choices, I gave each a number and rolled a six-sided dice to decide.

Lastly... since this story can pretty much go on for as long as I still have decks and challengers for him to take on, this is likely to be a never-ending story. The chances are that I'll probably leave the 'completed' tag off this one except during the times between him finishing one game, and me starting to write the next.

And with that... seconds away, round two is about to begin...

* * *

By late that evening Roxas had received no less than six different challenges from various other wizards in the area, two of which were brothers and insisted on being taken on together – even though it meant the two would have to battle each other as well as him.  
Darik knew them all, and provided useful information about each from what he knew even as he taught both Riku and Sora how to play the game. Maybe sometime he'd come up against them too.  
He rebuilt his deck to include several of the white cards Darik had given him, finding some more interesting cards among them. Sometimes he was faced with a hard choice to keep to the sixty-card limit that all of them adhered to. Some other Wizards went for more, others for less, but in this gathering he'd been inducted into, sixty was their choice.  
Then just as night began to fall, he headed back out into the town, headed for the Elven bar one of his challengers was staying at. Each of his challengers knew there was a fair chance he might not take up their particular one. It had happened before enough times that it didn't bother most.  
Interestingly, he found that a spell he'd put in place some time ago to understand the Elven language was still in effect, allowing him to navigate the Elven enclave with ease while he still understood the signs. It was a simple matter to reach the bar named Golden Rest, or depending on the translation, Golden Ass. Roxas chose to believe it was the former, and the latter was just a mistake on his part.  
Though it was an Elven bar, there were distinctly more humans than elves, and even a few dwarves too. The bartenders were all elves though, thankfully speaking human just as fluently.  
"I'm looking for a human," he told one of them. "A certain Jake Tanis."  
"Never hearda him," the elf replied in a voice thick with accent. "Less you care to help the memory."  
Roxas sighed, then handed over a stack of coins. The elf made no move to accept them, prompting two more similar stacks to be added before they were finally scooped up.  
"Skinflint," he breathed irritably. He'd pay a visit to this place once he got back into a game and have words with them about this.  
"His room's upstairs, second on the right. Don't stand in front of the door if you know what's good for you."  
He grunted thanks, then followed the directions. He almost knocked immediately, but recalled the elf's warning, standing to one side as he knocked it.  
The end of a sword appeared through the wooden door. Closer examination revealed several more holes in the door caused by the same.  
"Nice to meet you too," he called in.  
"Roxas?" Jake called back. "I wasn't expecting you."  
"You _did_ challenge me, you know," he replied as the sword was removed. "I just thought I'd let you know, you'd better be ready – come morning, I'm taking up you up on it."  
"I thought you wanted some time before you took on anyone?"  
"Yeah, well, I found out what I wanted sooner than I thought."  
"Well scram then. I've got some last minute preparations to make before morning."  
"Hope they're worth it," Roxas told the still closed door, then he headed back to his room for the night, knowing what he'd find in the morning.  
When he got back, he noticed Darik keeping watch over a friendly practice game between Riku and Sora, acting as their judge of rules and frequent mediator when an argument broke out over how something worked.  
"Who's winning?" he asked them, pausing as he passed.  
"He is, for now," Sora answered darkly. "Not for much longer if I can help it."  
"I just have good luck," Riku laughed. "And I got to watch Roxas play too, so I've got a better idea of how it all works. I'm done," he added, setting his hand face-down on the table.  
"Who did you see?" Darik asked as he watched Sora take his turn. "Only one land, Sora."  
"It says artifact land on the card, so I can play it as an artifact," he argued.  
"Nice argument, but by general agreement here we don't allow it that way. Put it back."  
"I thought I'd pick up Jake's challenge," Roxas said.  
"Tanis? The Battlemage?"  
"That's the one."  
"I think I'm going to put off my own challengers to watch this one. When do you start?"  
"Tomorrow morning. I'd appreciate it if you guys didn't interfere this time," he added, more to Sora and Riku. "I'm going to keep it fair."  
"Thought you would," Riku replied. "Besides, it gives me more time to beat Sora at this."  
"I'll get you yet," Sora threatened.

He stayed up late that night, looking out over the town with a drink in hand. He wasn't one to drink anything alcoholic, and had kept away from it so far despite the wide selection available. Darik had introduced him to both ginger and root beers though, neither alcoholic. So far, he found himself favouring the dwarven brew of root beer. It had a strong kick to the taste the others lacked.  
As he leaned on the balcony of his room, he noted there were few actual differences between its appearance when he was in a game, and its real state. Naturally, his tower was not present, and the market that had been arranged around its base was spread over the entire area it normally occupied instead. This gave the merchants more space to conduct their business, but oddly most of it went unused.  
The walls and towers along them that had told the time were gone, leaving the town completely open. This would have been a threat, but the only real threats to the town came when he was in a game – and at those times, they'd return again.  
But other than those few points, there was no difference at all. The construction projects he'd put in place for the new immigrants had carried over, the first round of immigrants were still there in the houses he'd helped construct, even the people he'd met were still here in the town.  
They just had no memory of him as Wizard Roxas until the next game started. Maybe of him as just another passing stranger, unless he settled here of course, but not of him as the Wizard. He'd have to ask around come morning, but he was fairly certain the reverse would also hold true – while he was their resident Wizard, they'd have no memory of him as he was right now.  
As it passed midnight a fog formed around the edge of the town, lit up directly ahead of him by some unseen light. A quick glance behind him revealed a second fog forming upward in the center of town. In a few short moments, they cleared again and the town was his again. Roxille was back, and with it their Wizard.  
The drink was drained, handed back to the one sleepy bartender keeping watch for the late drinkers, then he checked himself out of the room and headed back up to the familiar rooms of his tower. The game was on.  
Everything was exactly how he'd left it. The beam of light through the center of the tower still linked to all the internal floors. The rooms he'd given to Naminé and Riku were also left unchanged, though without their occupants. Even the eagle lectern on one side of the room still held the index, exactly as it had just before the end of his last game.  
The two gems marking life totals were there too, his in red and Jake's in green, both showing 20. Jake's life gem was lit up, marking it as his turn, though the index below showed no cards in play at all. Not yet, anyway. He'd have to wait until morning to find out what he was up against.  
He took out the cards that made up his deck, slotting them into place in the dip marked as the library, where they promptly removed ans shuffled themselves thoroughly before returning again. The first seven cards vanished into his hand.  
Temporal Fissure, a Plains, an Island, Graceful Adept, Glittering Lynx, a Forest and Bottle Gnomes. He chuckled briefly at the flavour text on the last – _Reinforcements... or refreshments? _The cards were rearranged in the hand, lands, creatures then the lone sorcery. A plan was forming already.  
It'd depend on what he drew on his first and second turns, but the first and third turns at least were already in place. It would give him at least two creatures, provided Jake didn't have any low mana spells to deal with them.  
A short bit of research with the index told him that any changes to the maximum allowed hand size were lost with the card, so the Graceful Adept would have to be kept safe. It removed all limits on hand size, meaning he could stock up cards in hand until a more opportune time without having to limit himself to just seven cards.  
Finally, he decided there was nothing he could do until Jake had taken his first turn, and headed for his room in the tower. Before he left though, he went out onto the tower's own balcony just outside, thought for a moment, then tapped the walls. The previous sandcastle-like walls became sheathed in white marble to reflect the white mana in his deck, then a shallow moat appeared around its base with a low wall to help prevent anyone falling in. The market, instead of being built right up against the base of the tower, was now against the outside edge of the central plaza, along with some few stalls in the free space between them and the moat.  
That was the blue mana displayed, however simply. With one last tap on the walls, various vines sprouted on the walls, bursting into various kinds of blooms. Not everywhere on the walls, and not in any great amount. He took care to ensure none of them could be used to scale the walls, then added two trees on either side of the entrances to his tower. Since the doorway that led inside at the bottom was right beside the start of the stairs up, the large willow trees sheltered both without getting in the way of either.  
Small changes, and hardly significant, but he felt it was probably about time he personalized his tower a bit. Having it continue to look like a sandcastle didn't seem appropriate.


	16. A Lonely Tower

Come morning, there was still no sign of any activity from Jake, and the life marker showed it was still his turn. It appeared that unlike Darik, he wasn't one to rise early in an attempt to act before he could react.  
At this early stage though, neither would be in any position to worry about any significant reactions. It was still the first turn, and games were hardly won on the first turn.  
There seemed to be little he could do for now, so the index was turned to the catalogue of all the collected artefacts, potions, elixirs and such that were stocked in his tower. Though the various shelves suggested otherwise, a closer examination showed many of the bottles were empty.  
Books seemed to make up most of the collection, though as the index helpfully pulled information from any book in his tower without his having to go searching for it specifically, they had all collected considerable dust. One small spell quickly remedied that, and another repeated the effects for the rest of the room. Housekeeping was much easier with a bit of magic.  
With several more uses of small magic, the various items scattered around the tower room had been tidied away, books and scrolls in their proper places – a scroll rack created for the scrolls to stop them rolling away – shelves stocked with the filled bottles first, then the empty ones separately, and all of the few artefacts stored away.  
The result was a lot of unused space. Various tables and surfaces around the tower were now left completely bare, making the tower look more like it was never used. He needed something to do, if only to make it look like he was doing wizardly kinds of things. Whatever they were.  
Well, he had all these empty bottles, and access to a fair library of magical mixtures. It shouldn't be too much trouble to mix some up, in case the need ever rose again. Riku had proved he was missing mixtures for some of the more unusual conditions.  
The problem with most of the listed options was that his stock of ingredients was not exactly up to the task, and without leaving the tower – or at least the town – he had no way of gathering them.  
No doubt with a reward offered, the townsfolk below would rise to the occasion, so he made a short list and headed down into the town to look for whatever the local equivalent of a 'help wanted' noticeboard was. What kind of reward to offer them though?  
He could leave it up to whoever brought him any of the items. At least in theory he should be able to find something to accommodate them. And if not? He'd think of something.  
The residents knew him again, there was no mistaking that. Even the merchants who ran the market at the base of the tower gave him respectful nods as he passed, even though they seemed to change constantly.  
As he passed the junction of Eighth Ring and Four Street, a short man in red robes came running out of Eighth Ring, holding onto a black beret. He seemed flustered, and didn't seem to notice Roxas, a fact reinforced when he ran into him.  
He had surprisingly little momentum to him, seeming to just bounce off and take a few steps back, disoriented. He peered at Roxas for a few moments, then said, "Oh, I'm terribly sorry. I didn't see you there."  
"Are you in a hurry or something?"  
"Oh, yes. It's terrible so you see," he answered, head bobbing along as he spoke. "There's just nothing to be done if he can't help us, you know."  
"If who can't help us? I mean you."  
"Why, the Wizard of course. Do you happen to know him?"  
"Uh... sort of... you're going the wrong way, you know... that's his tower just up there." He pointed to his newly redesigned tower. It looked much better than it had done before from the ground. "If he's not in, he'll turn up in a while."  
He peered at the tower, squinting hard, then head bobbing again he replied, "Thanks ever so much there, I'll be sure to tell him you helped me out, I will." Then he was off again.  
"Completely off his rocker," Roxas muttered to himself, setting off again. He'd meet the strange fellow up at the tower once he'd posted his list of ingredients wanted.

The list had been put up at one of the job centres scattered about the time, run by the town's watch and conveniently always right beside the watch houses. Once a short note had been added mentioning a 'reward for services rendered' he'd been assured it would be distributed around the town so anyone who came in would be able to find it in short order.  
Along the way back to his tower, the familiar pulse sounded out to him that Jake had taken his first turn. He'd find out what Jake had put into play when he got back. As usual, a card was drawn from the library for him, vanishing into one hand to join the rest. An idle curiosity passed his mind, wondering what other people thought of these periodic sights of a card flying through the air.  
He'd drawn a Kavu Predator, one of the cards he'd obtained during a short look into the card trading part of the game, mostly for one of its two abilities. Every time his opponent gained life, it would get a +1/+1 counter for each life gained. It would make anyone think twice about healing themselves without a strategy to deal with it before it got too powerful. It was a perfect creature to play on the second turn.  
For this turn, he flicked a Plains card into the air to provide the first white mana somewhere outside the town, then followed it with the Glittering Lynx. A 1/1 creature for one mana was about as plain as you got as creatures went, but this had two interesting abilities. First and most interesting, all damage dealt to it would be prevented – unless the second ability was activated, which removed it for two mana, an ability any player could play.  
That ability wouldn't be usable until after the second turn, and he was hardly likely to activate it himself. If Jake wanted to activate it this soon, he'd have to keep two mana aside for it, not something easily afforded this early.  
The Lynx appeared as he summoned it, looking perfectly normal if not for the impression that it had been carved from one large diamond to create a multifaceted, fully moving sculpture of a Lynx. It stretched out beside him as if it had been woken up, then padded after him into the tower.  
His tower room was deserted when he reached the top, so the weird stranger he'd met earlier obviously hadn't made it here yet. Or perhaps he'd managed to get lost again, given his earlier squinting at the tower suggested he had some kind of sight problem.  
There was time to be patient. Perhaps he'd run into someone that would guide him up here in due time. He glanced down into the market to see if there was any sign of him down there or on the stairs, but to no avail. The stranger would stick out fairly easily. Further away, outside the town he could see the Plains had taken place as, yes, plains. Wheat plains most probably.  
The Lynx meanwhile curled up in one corner of the room, in best feline habits completely unconcerned with the lack of apparent activity in here. So long as it was to hand if he needed it.  
Like him, Jake had a decent enough start to put a land and a one mana creature into play, in his case a Mountain and a Furnace Scamp – a little creature that might prove to be a pest if there were more like it, or if he brought them back to irritate again. If it ever managed to get through to him and land its mighty one damage, it could then be sacrificed to do three more.  
It'd have to get to him first though, and the Lynx was more than capable of handling that for now.  
As he ended that turn, and today's round with it, Roxas realised he'd grown used to having company in the tower, if not some daily event to take a hand in to keep him occupied. Without company around it almost lonely. Somehow the Lynx just didn't seem to be able to fill in.  
Were all Wizards like this? Darik's tower had been empty but for him, at least until Sora and his friends had been snared into interfering with their game. As for him... he'd only had what... one day before Riku had shown up. After that, there'd always been someone else around. It had become normal.  
Ariel, the watchman who had become the frequent liaison between him and the watch, appeared out of the beam of light as if on cue from his thinking. Close behind her was the stranger from earlier.  
"Its about time," was all he said to them.  
"Would you mind not being cryptic today, Wizard?" Ariel asked him wearily. "It's been a long day."  
"It isn't even lunchtime yet."  
"I know. And I didn't come on duty until six this morning. I found this little fellow down in the dwarven district trying to find his way to you."  
"I say, don't I know you?" the red-robed stranger asked, peering at him around Ariel.  
"You bumped into me earlier, remember?"  
"Oh. But you didn't say you were the Wizard."  
"I didn't want to get distracted at the time. I find it's easier to direct people up to here to wait for me. You can leave him with me, Ariel. He's only after my help, something I could offer you if the watch is having trouble in the town."  
"Thanks for the offer, but we've always been steadfastly against using magic to handle things unless it becomes necessary," she answered. "Nothing personal intended, of course. I'm sure it's very useful with the proper application."  
"More than a little useful," Roxas laughed. "It's a lifesaver when you keep burning your own breakfast." Ariel chuckled, shaking her head as she left. "So, what's your problem?" he asked the stranger.  
"It's the eyes, you know," he replied, the head bobbing away in time again. "They've been getting worse all through my life, and no doctor has been able to tell me what's wrong with them, they haven't. The wife doesn't have the same problem, and no one else in the family does either, but since my kids have started to see the same in their own sight, I see it as about time I looked to others for help, I do."  
Roxas thought for a moment to make sense of what had been said.  
"What exactly is wrong with your eyesight?"  
"Well your Wizardlyness," he began. Roxas winced at 'Wizardlyness'. "We all started off with nothing wrong, we didn't. But after a time, some of the colours just seem to stop being visible, we see all but those colours, we do. For me, I can't see anything but black and white now, and I don't think it'll be long before I can't even see that, because everything I've been seeing is starting to get all blurry now, it has."  
"Well, let's see what I've got," he said, turning to the already responding index. There were quite a number of results. Many of them were very similar, but with minor changes to make them work on the various different species and races that existed.  
"Does that tome of yours contain all the answers, does it?"  
"Usually. I call it the Index. If it can't find what I want, it'll usually direct me to one of my various books or similar that does. This might sound a little offensive, but what exactly are you?"  
"I'm a halfling, I am. Half dwarf and half human."  
The index narrowed down to the specific results for dwarves and humans. There was nothing for half-anythings.  
"And your children? The same?"  
"Oh, no. No, they're a bit more difficult. See, my wife's an elf, she is. So the kids are a bit of elf, a bit of dwarf and a bit of human."  
Now the index added the entry for the elven brew, but that was all.  
"At last," Roxas murmured to himself. "A challenge."  
"Begging your pardon, Wizard?"  
"I'm going to have to work on this a bit," he told the stranger. "Where there's no existing recipes for anything except single-species people, I'm going to have to read up more on each of them and formulate two completely new ones. One for you, and one for your children. And I'm afraid I won't be able to offer any guarantee they'll work, either. They'll be very experimental brews."  
"If they don't kill us, we'll be happy to give them a try, we will."  
"Wait until I've had a chance to brew them first, mister..."  
"Ah, I haven't introduced meself, so I haven't. I'm Gammel, I am."  
"Right. You live here?"  
"We do now, we arrived here just a few days ago from the frozen Scrional lands."  
"Then until I've got something for you, I suggest you stay here in Roxille. But do ask someone to help you get around, please. I'd rather someone without any sight problems was on hand to see you don't come to any harm before I can sort your eyes out."  
"True, does make sense, that does. I was more concerned with getting your help with this, I was."  
"Of course You can use the light there to return to the base of the tower quickly. I'll get to work on this right away."  
Gammel gave half a bow, then peered around for the light for a few moments before he finally managed to find the way out.

* * *

**A/N: **Yes, I'm fully aware that the odds of getting as lucky as Roxas - or for that matter the other Wizards too - on the cards drawn are somewhere in the region of the next galaxy over. In places it really is chosen completely at random, but sometimes random wouldn't make for an interesting game. So I take a hand in the choice of cards to keep the game moving.  
Maybe it isn't all that realistic in comparison to how games are actually played, but I figure interesting is probably better than realistic here. Just wanted to clear that up before anyone else messaged me about it.


	17. Magic Poem and Wizard's Apprentice

It would have been easier if Gammel had been even part human, Roxas decided. The human cure for his condition was the easiest to adapt to fit the other races, and was already known to be the recipe that was the basis for each of the others.  
Most of them shared the same ingredients, either with some additional ones added in, or with the quantities altered. All of them had one thing in common though, which was the timings – they were always different.  
They also ruled out the simple solution of just taking the necessary ones and mixing them together, warning that coming into contact with a cure for another race was likely to result in 'a highly dangerous exothermic reaction'. It was interpreted as meaning it would probably blow up, though why this should be so was not clear.  
The next most simple solution he reasoned would be to create a brew that would cure Gammel's children, which having the needed parts to cure him too would work just as well for him. This solution was also shot down, as the elven cure was highly toxic to dwarves, making it doubly useless. It had just as much chance of curing his children as it would of poisoning them. No luck there.  
He continued to examine each of the recipes in detail for any kind of clue even as night fell. Without even thinking about it, he caused the tower room to glow by itself, allowing him to keep on working through the night. Sleep avoided him while this had his interest. It was going to keep him occupied, and it had intrigued him.  
A compromise seemed to be the best way to deal with it, though whether it would work or not... he made a number of calculations, splitting the differences in quantities and ingredients evenly. Those ingredients that had harmful effects on one of the participant races were researched, then reduced to below the lethal level. A few substitutes were made for other less potent, but also less harmful options.  
By morning he had four resulting recipes provided him with two separate options for both Gammel and his children. Now all he had to do was get the ingredients – consultation with the Index had revealed that he lacked most of them. It took only a few moments to see that the list he'd put out yesterday was updated with the new additions.  
Just as he was considering finally getting some sleep, the Index automatically flicked to the game overview. Jake was taking his turn.  
He too put a plains into play, followed by a Blade of the Sixth Pride, a 3/1 creature. Roxas guessed he wouldn't attack with the Furnace Scamp, not with his Glittering Lynx in play. It seemed this time, he guessed right, and the turn was completed without anything else happening.  
This time, Roxas drew a card he'd left in the deck for its main ability, the Raven Guild Master. Every time it managed to hit his opponent, they'd be forced to remove the top ten cards of the library from the game. A powerful ability for a 1/1 creature.  
The Guild Master also had the Morph ability, allowing it to be played face-down for three mana as a 2/2 creature. No one except him would know what it was until he paid the Morph cost, where it was turned face up instead.  
He needed two islands before he could play that, and he already had plans in place anyway. The Forest that had sprouted north of his town in the last game began to grow again when he put a Forest into play, followed by the Kavu Predator he'd drawn the turn before. This allowed him to defend against an attack on the next turn without losing everything, provided Jake didn't pay to deactivate the Lynx's immunity to damage. Or put a creature with Haste into play.  
Then since he'd been up all night working on the cures, he finished his turn and went off to bed. There was nothing else to do for now.

Though normally not a late riser, keeping himself busy overnight left him to get up just after four in the afternoon. It didn't come as much surprise to find the tower was still empty except for him.  
He doubted anyone would have stopped by in that time, at least not with anything he needed to worry about. Someone would have woken him if there had been cause for concern.  
Out of habit he checked the Index, though naturally it showed no change at all.  
"Mind if I bother you, Roxas?" Sora's voice asked. He was leaning in the doorway at the top of the stairs.  
"Aren't you meant to be keeping out of my game?"  
"It's nothing to do with your game. I found someone earlier who... well, I think something happened to her."  
"What makes you say that?"  
Sora brought in a woman he recognised. She had been the first person to ask for his help during Darik's game. She looked upset and disturbed.  
"Backwards out comes say I everything," she said, explaining the way she looked.  
"That's what," Sora added. "Everyone was telling her to come see you, and since I was headed this way anyway, I came with her."  
"Any idea what caused it?"  
"Know don't I someone from mail the in poem a got I when started all it," the woman told him. Roxas thought for a moment to interpret.  
"Do you still have the poem?"  
She hesitated for a moment, then took out a small envelope. Roxas gingerly took out a single sheet of paper from it, taking care not to look at the words on it in case they were the cause.  
One short spell confirmed that it was the culprit, and a second proved he'd been not to try to read it. The words had either been the target of an enchantment, or they were one in themselves.  
For a moment he hesitated, unsure of how to continue, then an idea occurred to him. A mirror that had previously been tidied away was summoned onto the wall nearby, then the Index was consulted to find a spell that would nullify the magical effects of anything if viewed through the mirror.  
"Sora," he said after a few moments. "There should be a book on the shelves beside you named 'Preventative and Counter-magic'. Would you get it for me?"  
"Isn't it a bit late to prevent this?" he asked, hefting the large blue tome in both arms.  
"I'm not trying to prevent what its already done, just prevent it from doing the same to me while I figure out more about it," he answered, taking it off him and laying it on a nearby table. "Page 492," he told it absently, sending it flicking rapidly through the pages.  
"Neat trick," Sora remarked. "Where did you learn that?"  
"It comes with being a Wizard," he shrugged, examining the resulting page as it opened. The spell was too complex for the Index to list all the possibly permutations it could have, given that it worked in different ways for different targets. It could be made to reflect, nullify, dispel or redirect any magic that met the requirements, and there was an entire page on setting those requirements.  
It was complex enough that he had to write down the parts he needed so he wouldn't forget them before he put them in place on the mirror, which shimmered in green for a moment as it took effect.  
"No one look directly at the poem," he warned as he opened it to read the reverse image in the mirror. After only a few lines, he turned back to the Index and said, "Cures for the Re-Verse artefact's effect."  
"Re-Verse?" Both Sora and the woman asked together.  
"That's the name of the artefact. Verse is another name for poetry. Re-Verse, or reverse, a set of verse that causes people to speak in reverse. You can put that book back for me now." He glanced at the results the Index showed, then handed the poem back to her. "Just read it again," he told her. "It'll cure itself then. If you don't mind though, I'll keep hold of it afterwards so no one else gets caught by the effect."  
"Thank you, Wizard," she said with relief after reading. "You've helped me out yet again."  
"What I'm here for. Did your son make a recovery like I predicted?" he asked then, remembering she had brought him his first patient.  
"Complete. And those boys who did it even apologised for it. They're best of friends now."  
"That's what I like to hear. You take care of yourself now."  
"I will Wizard, thank you again. And you too young master Sora."  
"It was nothing," Sora assured her. He looked thoughtfully after her as she left. "So that's Wizarding, is it? It doesn't look too hard."  
"It has it's moments. The hard part comes when someone brings you a problem that doesn't have an immediate solution."  
"Like what?"  
"Like that," Roxas replied, pointing to the stack of paper he'd used to work out the recipes. "That there is a load of work I did just to come up with a cure for an eyesight problem that no amount of non-magical treatment seems to be able to cure. I was up all night trying to figure it out, and I still have to brew the cures before I can test them."  
"So when do you take your turn?"  
"Already done it. Don't tell me this is why you're really here?"  
"Why not? Riku got the benefit of learning from you, so why not me?"  
"This isn't a schoolroom, Sora. Anyway, Riku didn't learn, he just picked it up as I played."  
"Doesn't mean I can't learn something too. Anyway, Riku's gone and gotten himself involved in a real game against someone called Scrional, so I don't have anyone to practice with."  
"What about Darik? Didn't he say he was going to put off challenges to watch how this game of mine went?"  
"Yeah, but he got called away on some emergency. He didn't want to talk about it."  
"There are other Wizards too, you know."  
"If you don't want me here, just say so. There's another reason I stopped by though."  
"And that is?"  
"Donald and Goofy have gone missing. I already asked the town watch to look for them, before you ask. But that was yesterday, and I'm kinda worried about them."  
"Alright," Roxas gave in with a sigh. "You can stick around and help out. You'll be my Wizard's Assistant."  
"Assistant?" Sora objected.  
"Don't argue with me, Sora. It doesn't really mean anything, it just gives you an excuse to take up residence here with me. You can use the room Riku had when he stayed here."  
"And I reach that... how?"  
"Didn't Darik's tower have something like that?" he gestured to the light in the centre of the tower.  
"I don't think so. I didn't stay in his tower anyway, he was always sending these skeletal birds down with messages whenever he had something to tell us."  
"I guess all Wizard towers are different then. That there, Sora, is the way to get around inside the tower. It leads to all the other floors and rooms, and takes up much less space than stairs."  
"That," Sora said flatly, looking at it sceptically. "Seriously, Roxas?"  
"I can see a practical demonstration is in order..."


	18. Oversights

Sora had taken a more hands-on approach to helping Roxas than Riku had, which had turned out mixed results. With little to do until ingredients began to come in, Sora had taken to investigating each artefact in Roxas's tower, then if he couldn't figure out what it did, he'd bring it to him.  
For most of the artefacts this was harmless enough, but some of the artefacts had contact-activated effects. One such artefact he'd seen mentioned before, one that would cure anything, but always with a conditional cost. There was no way to predict what the cost would be, only that it would affect the unfortunate victim directly. In some noted cases the involved person was cured – but then suffered extreme bad luck that always seemed to try to kill them. Other cases were little more than something humiliating.  
Though it was difficult to say what it had cured Sora of, he caught one of those humiliating effects as he returned it to the shelf on which it belonged – another artefact, also with a contact effect, fell on him and activated.  
Sora quite suddenly found he was now far too small for the clothes he'd vanished into. Roxas watched for a few moments as the pile of clothes shifted slightly, then a considerably younger looking Sora looked out of them at him.  
"I did warn you," Roxas sighed. "Play with the artefacts at your own peril, I told you."  
"I wasn't playing with them," Sora protested, even sounding younger.  
"If you wanted to know what they did, you could have just asked the Index."  
"It doesn't work for me. It's your Index. Can you do something about this?" he asked, raising his arms. Or trying to, at least. It looked more like he was trying to shrug.  
Roxas considered undoing the effects, then changed his mind – if Sora wanted to learn to be a Wizard off him, he was going to have to learn to be more careful around magic, and therefore bear the consequences. So instead, he simply shrunk the clothes down to fit his new size.  
"Maybe next time you'll listen to my warnings."  
"This isn't what I meant, Roxas!"  
"It'll wear off eventually," he shrugged.  
"How long is eventually?"  
The Index flicked through by itself. A cursory glance at the page told him all he needed to know.  
"Anywhere from a few days to a week," Roxas replied. "You brought that on yourself. I'm not going to waste my magic undoing your mistakes for you."  
"You use it on your people all the time," Sora pointed out.  
"Always with reason though, such as when magic affects them unexpectedly, or when it's because of something between me and Jake. You want to be a Wizard, so you learn to take the consequences yourself."  
"You didn't do the same to Riku," he accused.  
"Riku has better sense than you do. Stop complaining, Sora. It could have been much worse."  
And that had been the end of that incident. Since Sora was now barely older than a toddler and much shorter, he could reach less and kept himself out of trouble instead.

Later that evening, after Sora had turned in for the night – with a hand from him to make up for his new shortage of height – Roxas returned to the balcony outside the tower room, looking out over his town.  
It was a difference to this time in the last game, he recalled. On that occasion, he hadn't wanted this, or what went with it. All he'd expected was a simple game of cards, even if the cards weren't normal playing cards. Experiences in that game had changed his mind somewhat, and now he found that this was actually a welcome change.  
It was _his_ town. They looked to him to protect them and provide when no other means could provide what they needed. They were his responsibility, his people.  
He briefly considered paying a call on Jake, but decided there was no real point, not yet. Darik had been an interesting conversationalist, and someone worth talking to when unexpected things happened, but Jake was a different matter.  
So instead he looked into the spell that Darik had utilized to pay a call on him before, learning a little more about it and how it worked when you didn't know the destination. It was a more complex magic than before, but only needed once for each new location at least.  
Then after a few moments, he set it in motion. His vision blanked out for a moment, then an unfamiliar town formed around him. At first glance, it appeared to be fairly normal. Certain key buildings stood out though, being almost universally white.  
Though he was not actually there, he nevertheless felt the chill in the air. The weather here was definitely on the colder side.  
The tower here dominated the town, of course. Unlike his and Darik's towers, it was not round but square. Besides that difference, the tower resembled his own tower when he'd first seen it – a sandcastle. Evidently the towers of new Wizards always started out similarly.  
Roxas circled it, trying to find any way in or up, but instead finding only a curious construct on one side. There were several squares of metal in a row, each of them apparently linked to some kind of mechanism inside the tower that lead all the way up the side.  
He stepped onto one, uncertain if there was any specific means of triggering it, but it activated as soon as he was aboard, following the corresponding dark line in the tower until it stopped at the top to reveal the tower room here was mostly open, with large arches reaching most of the way around.  
The owner had been tinkering with some strange device on a table, but glanced up when Roxas entered the tower, the tower seemingly alerting him with the sound of a bell ringing.  
"Roxas? What are you doing here?"  
"I thought I'd check up on you, see how you're doing," Roxas answered. "Sora told me you got yourself into a real game of your own."  
"Sora talks too much," Riku grumbled. "I was thinking of doing this myself."  
"Don't stop on my account then. I never said I was going to help you out at all."  
"If you must know, it'd be going better if it wasn't so cold. The locals keep coming to me for firewood because there aren't any forests around. I've barely had any time to do anything around the constant requests."  
"I'm sure you'll think of something. How about your game?"  
"That's another matter," Riku answered, heading over to what Roxas assumed was his version of the Index. Unlike the large book Roxas had, Riku's Index was a large canvas on the wall. It had been showing some plans, but quickly turned to the game view at a few words from him.  
"Snow-covered lands?" he murmured, seeing the cards on the side of Riku's opponent. "I've never seen anything like that before."  
"I haven't been able to figure out what's special about them just yet. I've got a few decent creatures in play though, enough to counter anything Scrional throws at me for the moment, but unless I can get another land or two in play I'm going to be stuck for a bit."  
"I never have that problem. I usually end up in need of a bit of backup magic."  
"Lucky you," Riku said sourly, then shook his head. "Don't worry about me, Roxas. Aside from a little mana shortage, I'm sure I'll pull through somehow. Anyway, what about you?"  
"The game's going fine, it's the other stuff that's bothering me."  
"You mean the more mundane things your people keep bringing to you?"  
"Yeah. I've got a halfling and his children with eyesight problems I'm having to invent a completely new cure for, and Sora's making a pest of himself."  
"That might be my fault," Riku admitted. "I suggested he ask if you minded having him around."  
"He took that advice, and ended up falling foul of some of the artefacts I've got. He's accidentally turned himself into a toddler because of that."  
"A toddler," Riku chuckled. "He won't make that mistake again, I'm betting."  
"I hope so. If he's going to learn off me, he needs to learn to be more careful."  
"At least this way he should have learned his lesson the hard way," he pointed out. "How's Naminé?"  
Roxas realised he hadn't seen her around at all since he'd gone to see Jake.  
"Uh oh."  
"Uh oh what?"  
"I hope nothing's happened to her."  
"Isn't she with you?"  
"She might be somewhere in the town. I better get back and find out."


End file.
